Wine for Asia 2008 Kicks off in Singapore
The sixth edition of Wine for Asia, the annual wine show of
Singapore opened at Suntec City yesterday with around 350 exhibitors
taking part. Subhash Arora who was present at the Show reports.
The start might have been slightly slow but the mood was clearly
upbeat, as the stands opened in the morning in Suntec City, the new
venue which is more central and convenient for the visitors and
exhibiters alike, said Malcolm Tham, Programme Director of the Show.
This time the practice of inaugural speeches was also discontinued
so that people can get on with the job right away, explained
Malcolm.
'The show has Italy, Argentina and Austria taking part as a country,
for the first time indicating their confidence in the growing
Singapore market,' said Tham. Italy, the biggest participant has
declared its intention to take on the wine world and increase its
market share, if one were to go by the Italian Trade Commissioner
Dr. Massimiliano Sponzilli. About 40 Italian exhibitors are taking
part.
A highlight of the show has been the seminars that included a Master
Class by Stephen and Prue Henschke, owners of the iconic South
Australian winery, which was attended by an enthusiastic full house
of over 60 people. Tasting of Malbec from Argentina and the First
Growth wineries of Germany were the other heavily attended sessions.
This year was no differnet with about 24 wineries represented.
Burgundy tasting was another popular session conducted by Jacques
Dioque, General Manager and Brand Ambassador of Bouchard Aine &
Fils, the well known Burgundy House represented in India by UB
group. On being asked about his impression of the show, he said with
guarded optimism,' we have had some good meetings with a few
restaurateurs. But we hope to see better response during the next 2
days. The show will continue till October 18.
Wine shows like WFA provide a B2B platform with no guarantees.
Naresh Uttamchandani, owner of Sovereign Impex, one of the importers
in the 15-member buyers' delegation organised by the Indian Wine
Academy 3 years ago had been able to spot Babich from New Zealand.
Today, they provide him with excellent business.
During his visit this year, he has not been so lucky so far. 'I am
looking for an Australian winery. I would have loved to have
Henschke on my portfolio but I believe they are already in India. I
hope I am able to spot the right winery to work with; I have not
found anyone meeting our requirements, so far.'
Magma is a well known German wine shop and bistro in Chinatown. The
owner, Leonardo Noto has a well-located stand at the show. Said
Leonardo,' the morning was slow for us but we had good number of
visitors in the afternoon.'
The fair expects to draw about 4000 visitors according to Tham.'
According to my reckoning about 1500 visited today.'
One of the surprise visitors in the evening networking reception was
Dominique Girard. A familiar p3 personality in Delhi, as the
previous French Ambassador to India, he has been recently elected as
the Executive Director of the newly formed Asia-Europe Foundation
and has moved into Singapore. A group of 43 Asian and European
countries, that include recently introduced India, he is looking
forward to his visit to India in a couple of months. A great wine
enthusiast and promoter of French wines in India, he asked me to
give his best regards to all the people known to him through
delWine.
To those of you have fond memories of Ambassador Girard, here is, 'a
Votre Sante' from him.