China’s ProWine Shanghai trade fair features 27 Georgian companies

Twenty-seven Georgian companies are participating in ProWine Shanghai, a leading international trade fair for wines and spirits hosted in China's biggest city, with the support of the Georgian National Wine Agency. 

Georgian Agriculture Minister Otar Shamugia, who visited the exhibition running between Wednesday and Friday, said international fairs were “most interesting” for diversification of Georgian wine export markets as the events were visited by “leading” wine professionals, importers and media. 

ProWine Shanghai is traditionally attended by over 100,000 visitors, including distributors, importers and wine professionals. China is one of the most interesting, promising and priority markets for the export of Georgian wine”, he said.

Agriculture Minister Otar Shamugia. Photo: Ministry of Agriculture

As part of the fair organisers also hosted the International Amber Wine Conference, with the Georgian Minister saying he hoped the event would “further promote” Georgian wine in China and position Georgia as a “country with 8,000 years of continuous winemaking tradition”. 

Also, the event is important in terms of establishment in the premium segment, which is one of the important directions of the marketing strategy of Georgian wine. At the conference, along with Georgia, amber wine-producing countries Italy, Slovenia and Austria are represented, which once again emphasises the importance of the traditional Georgian winemaking method and the international recognition of this method", he pointed out.

The event was hosted by Master of Wine Debra Meiburg and amber wine expert Simon J. Woolf, who introduced the history of amber wine to visitors. Georgian winemakers also participated in an informational and technical session on the sidelines of the Conference to speak about the technology used in producing Georgian amber wine. 

Panel discussions at the event also saw Master of Wine Julien Boulad, wine professional Xiao Pi Xu and top sommelier Fei Fei Lu discuss Georgian wine and strategies for producers to enter and establish themselves in the Chinese market.  

The Georgian Ministry of Agriculture said wine companies from the country would feature in a Georgian wine master class in Shanghai, while wine from the country would be presented at a tasting event in Hainan province later this year.

The National Wine Agency has been promoting Georgian wine in China since 2018.