CWA to promote California wineries in Asia

HONG KONG & NAPA, California – The California Wine Association in Hong Kong has been established to sell top California wines in Asia.  Launched at the Vinexpo Hong Kong held from 27-29 May 2014, the association will offer full-service opportunities to wine producers, said executive director and co-founder Alexis Bell. The association will help address the challenges that California wineries face when doing business in Asia.

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.

Based in Hong Kong since 2012, Ms Bell is a Certified Sommelier and veteran winery, distributor and import executive.

CWA’s Board of Advisors includes industry leaders in Asia and California. The “Dean of Wine PR,” Harvey Posert has directed PR programmes 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 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 largest importer of California wines in Korea.