Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Pinterest The U.S. supplies about 31 percent of wine exports by volume in the Philippines, but wine makes up only about one percent of the Philippines’ total alcohol consumption. Industry players see this as a huge opportunity for growth in the local wine market (currently dominated by California wines), which may be one of the reasons why there’s been an explosion of tastings, dinners, wine clubs, and seminars to encourage people to explore and discover different kinds of wine. Over 300 wines from California were poured at the tasting fair The Discover California Wines tasting event at Bonifacio Hall in Shangri-La at the Fort Napa Valley’s Havens Winery displays its award-winning wines The map of distributors and wineries helped guests navigate the tasting event To meet the growing demand for wines from different regions of California, the California Wine Institute staged a one-day seminar and wine tasting fair at Shangri-La at the Fort called Discover California Wines. The fair brought together distributors, importers, trade representatives, and wineries seeking distributors and gave them an opportunity to connect over a shared love for wine. We talked to the California Wine Institute’s Richard Lieu about why the Philippines is an important market for California wine exports. Richard Lieu What is your role at the Wine Institute? I’m the trade and promotion consultant based in Singapore and we work in Southeast Asia—Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand. This is the very first time that we are here in the Philippines. It’s our maiden attempt and we have a strong contingent of winery representatives and principals here for this event How long has the wine institute been holding events in Asia? I would say 25 to 30 years. Why did it take so long to bring the event to the Philippines? [It’s] long overdue. It was a question of prioritizing the markets depending on volume and availability of resources. Wente Vineyards is the oldest, continuously operated family-owned winery in the U.S. How many wineries are represented? We have I believe close to about 40 wineries and importers that are already doing business with wineries at this event. There are some new ones that are coming to seek our good partners to import wines. It’s a way of expanding distribution and giving business for them so they can come back. Wines from the Francis Ford Coppola Winery What have you observed about Filipinos’ interest in California wine? I believe that the Filipino consumer has a strong affinity to things American and American wines. We have a strong market position for California wines in the Philippine market. We want to enhance it and do better. We definitely hope based on the results the winery members here—our principals—have, that they will say, let’s come back again. Wineries seeking distributors at the center of the Grand Ballroom There was also great interest in the seminar before the tasting event. About 90 people attended the seminar learning all about California wines, different wine growing regions, and different varieties of grape. What was the highlight of the event for the California Wine Institute? The highlight was the interest we had. We started planning this and then we eventually invited the importers and winery representatives. Even until [the morning of the event] we were getting responses from people who wanted to attend. Photos by Star Sabroso