Great Wines of Italy Rolls Through Asia; Premieres New Wine Documentary

Asia’s ultra-premium Italian wine event, Great Wines of Italy, attracted more than 3,000 wine trade members and wine lovers across Beijing, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Phuket from December 4 to 8, underlining the growing interest and consumption of the best wines of Italy throughout the region.  

“We started Great Wines of Italy Asia in Hong Kong in 2012 with the intent to open Asia’s eyes to the great Italian wines, and it’s clearly working,” says James Suckling, CEO of JamesSuckling.com, which organizes the event as well as Great Wines of the World in Asia in early November. “While Mainland China is an Italian wine market for the future, Hong Kong and Thailand already boast a thriving following for wines from the country. For example, most top restaurants now include a good selection of Italian in addition to French wines on their wine lists. And I believe that Italian wines will double their market share in Mainland China in the next three years.” 

Check on the photos of Beijing event below:

Attendees to this year’s Great Wines of Italy Asia came not only from the cities where the events were held but also from all over the region including China, Thailand, Korea, Japan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Philippines and Taiwan.  “I didn’t want to miss the best event in Asia for Italian wines,” explains Shinya Ojima, digital marketing manager and sommelier of Monte Bussan in Tokyo, who attended the Hong Kong event. 

Check on the photos of Hong Kong event below:

All the events featured grand tastings with more than 80 wineries pouring two different wines at each edition. All wines were rated 90 points or more from Asia’s celebrated wine critic James Suckling. The venues included the Rosewood Grand Ballroom, Beijing; Four Seasons Grand Ballroom, Hong Kong; the Grand Hyatt Erawan Grand Ballroom, Bangkok and The Nai Harn, Phuket. 

Check on the photos of Bangkok event below:

JamesSuckling.com’s newest documentary was also screened in the three cities: “The Miracle of Alto Adige.” The 23-minute film highlights the uniqueness of the mountainous vine-growing region in Northeast Italy through an elaborate drone and helicopter footage as well as interviews with a handful of key wineries. The movie will be released to the public in early 2018.  

Hollywood director James Orr shot and edited the film. “I am a wine lover and I wanted the world to understand what a unique place Alto Adige is and how hard it is to make wine there,” says Orr, who also created such documentaries as “Cannubi: A Vineyard Kissed By God” and “Cigars: The Heart & Soul of Cuba” for JamesSuckling.com. 

Video highlight:

Next year’s Great Wines of Italy Asia will again be in early December: Beijing, Dec 3-4; Hong Kong, Dec. 5-6; Bangkok, Dec. 7 and Phuket, Dec. 8. Great Wines of the World is in late November: Hong Kong, Nov. 1-2 and Beijing, Nov. 4-5.