Our Great Wines of Italy Asia tour was a huge success this year – we broke records in terms of attendance, the number of wineries involved and the outstanding number of great wines poured. 22,000 wines were tasted throughout 2018, creating one of the largest collections of wine ratings this year of any wine media in the world – and 5,400 of these were Italian wines.

The tastings took place from December 2-9 this year across four different cities. Thousands of wine lovers and representatives from the wine trade packed the various venues in Beijing (Rosewood Hotel), Hong Kong (Four Seasons), Bangkok (Grand Hyatt) and Phuket (The Nai Harn). 150 Italian wineries poured some of their best wines released this year, from excellent 2014 Barolos to amazing 2013 Brunellos and great award-winning 2015 Super Tuscans.

Great Wines of Italy Asia has become JamesSuckling.com’s biggest event and the most popular premium Italian wine event in the region. We’re already planning the 2019 events next year and you can expect even more opportunities to taste amazing Italian wines and talk to the producers while doing so.

Read our full recap here, and check out some highlights below:

Behind the scenes: Great Wines of Italy Asia