HONG KONG & NAPA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A new wine trade association in Hong Kong has been formed to promote and sell top California wines in Asia. “We're focusing on the best the state has to offer," said Alexis Bell, Executive Director and co-founder of the California Wine Association (CWA), "and we're offering full-service opportunities to interested producers." Bell and a team of CWA executives have a decade of sales, promotion and business development experience in Asia and have prepared a compelling portfolio of membership benefits designed to address the challenges faced by California wineries in Asia, both large and small.
"We appreciate the good work that the Wine Institute and some of the larger California wineries have done and hope to support and build on their efforts to significantly elevate the California brand in the largest wine market in the world. Our goal is to facilitate successful market entry and help leading wineries achieve commercial critical mass with a trusted and focused industry partner based in the world’s #1 city for the wine industry, Hong Kong,” said Jong Lee, Co-Founder of CWA. “We are pleased to announce our launch during Vinexpo Hong Kong 2014 and envision a future where top California wineries move far beyond their current beachhead,” he adds.
Membership is $1500 and benefits include a Hong Kong address; travel and concierge services; access to trade promotions and events; translation, introductions; office services; trademark and domain assistance; access to area industry groups and discounted translation, logistics, design and communications services.
“While Asia is already the biggest market for wine, the appreciation and appetite for great wines from around the world is still in its early stages and is rapidly developing and growing,” said Charles Lam, a member of CWA’s Board of Advisors and a long time wine industry and retail executive. “Over the next several years, I fully expect total wine sales in Asia to grow by at least 100%.”
Bell is a veteran winery, distributor and import executive. She is a Certified Sommelier, with an in-depth background in all facets of wine, including ten years of experience in the wine industry building exponential sales growth for all of the wineries she represented. She moved to Hong Kong in 2012 and has been active in the California wine import and distribution business.
CWA’s Board of Advisors includes industry leaders in Asia and California. Called the “Dean of Wine PR,” Harvey Posert has directed PR programs for Robert Mondavi, Opus One, California Wine Institute and was the California delegate to the Chinese National Agricultural Export Commission. He’s the Editor-Publisher of Spinning the Bottle: Case Histories and Tactics of Wine Public Relations. Charles Lam is the former Hong Kong President and Asia CFO (ex-Japan) of the SOGO Japanese department store chain. He is currently involved in a number of successful Chinese and Hong Kong wine distribution companies. Johnathan Yi is Managing Director of DongA Group, a major player in the Korean commodity, food and beverage sectors. It is also the Korean distributor for Ferrari and Maserati and the largest importer of California wines in Korea.
Please visit www.cwaasia.com or call 852-5804-9095 for more information on the California Wine Association.
