INDUSTRY EVENT: VINEXPO ASIA 2023

International trends at Vinexpo Asia 2023

Seamus May attended the event in May, learning about key wine trends that will likely impact Australia in the near future.

- Photography by Richard Koh and Seamus May.

This year’s Vinexpo Asia was the first time that the trade show had been held in Singapore and the first Vinexpo Asia since the pandemic. The event attracted exhibitors from more than 30 different nations, while nearly 10,000 trade professionals visited the show from 64 countries.

Singapore is a centre of international trade and a gateway to Asia for the wine trade. As such, there was significant representation from producing nations from around the world, and key industry trends on show.

Fresh styles popular from Australia

Preferences in the Asia-Pacific region are likely to have ramifications in Australia (and for domestic retailers) too, so it was intriguing to see what Australian exhibitors reported.

“Australia definitely has a purity and flavour profile that I think resonates. Quite fruit-driven, soft, easy-drinking wines are good,” said Andrew Calabria, Sales & Marketing Manager at Calabria Family Wines.

Paul Turale, Marketing General Manager for Wine Australia, believes that similar food preferences in Australia and Asia offer an opportunity for the nation’s wines.

“We are in a space where most of the cuisine in Australia is highly representative of what we’re seeing through the south east Asian market – those flavours and spices – and a lot of the wines that are being produced to match what we’re eating and drinking in Australia are absolutely geared towards the various markets here,” he said.

Fresh styles of label seem to be gaining traction too. As Rupert Steenberg, Sales & Marketing Director at Joval Family Wines, explained, this reflects ongoing trends in Australia.

“I was in Korea… The green shoots that I saw were younger, smaller, artisanal winemaking is getting going, and a lot of them had really visual labels,” he said.

“For a young demographic, very heavily on social media, very trend-focused, they’re into new alternative varieties, and I saw that from New Zealand and Australia.”

Asia still loves red wines

Michael McCheane, Director of McCheane Wine and Spirits representing American producer Ironstone Vineyards, stated it plainly: “Asia in general is, as most people would say, predominantly a red market. People like red wines.

“You’re probably looking at around a 70:30 split for the majority of the region –Japan, South Korea maybe skew a little bit more even, but it’s still predominantly red.”

And this provides significant advantages for certain producing nations, America among them.

“We’ve always had a strong focus on Zinfandel… And personally, I think that this style matches a lot of the Asian region – not as many tannins, a little more acidity, perhaps making it a little bit more food friendly with a variety of dishes. I’ve noticed more and more countries are receptive to Zinfandel,” McCheane continued.

Sparkling soars for French wine group

French wine group, Barton & Guestier (which also has a strong presence in Australia), had a large stall at Vinexpo Asia.

Guillaume Bladocha, Export Director for Barton & Guestier in the Asia Pacific, gave his impressions from the show.

“I have noticed a constant increase in the demand for sparkling wines. Sparkling has been (and is still currently) the most dynamic wine category overall in Asia,” he said.

“We have seen a strong increase in our volumes exported in the whole APAC region, but also in the requests received for brand distribution.”

Like other exhibitors, Bladocha found that buyers were largely sticking to the classics, but were still driving the premiumisation movement.

“In this difficult economical context, we see that the consumers (and, therefore, the buyers) are less adventurous when it comes to purchasing wine and stick to the brands they know [and] they trust,” he said.

“In terms of product profile, we noticed that a much higher proportion of buyers were looking for higher quality wines (premium appellations from Bordeaux, Burgundy). End consumers drink less, but better.”

A buyer’s POV

For Stephen Jones, an importer based in Hong Kong at Discover Wines Asia, it was Australia’s embrace of ‘alternative varietals’ that stood out as a key current trend.

“Particularly in Australia, we’ve seen a few producers that are using some grape varieties from Italy and Portugal that can handle extreme weather,” Jones said.

“All over the world, climate change [is] causing an issue in winemaking. So you’re seeing new trends of more hardy grape varieties that can deal with the heat.”

Jones also shared what he thought the Asian wine customer and seller was by and large looking for.

“The Asian consumer is obviously more of a novice in wine - so they look at packaging, easy to recognise labels,” he noted.

“Other than that, they’re looking for the big brands, the ones that have big points – easier for them to sell.”

Increased interest in sustainable packaging

One standout stall was When In Rome, an Anglo-Italian business selling Italian wines in more environmentally friendly packaging.

CEO Rob Malin explained the brand’s position and said: “Our business is founded on the premise that 40 per cent of the wine industry’s carbon footprint comes from single use glass bottles.

“We are about trying to educate the consumer both by example… We calculate and display our carbon footprint on the wine labelling.”

Malin said interest in the brand’s packaging had been “really, really strong” at Vinexpo Asia, showing the sustainable angle is a key element that drinks businesses are thinking of in today’s market.