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Japan’s leading platform for fine wine, food and beverage professionals wraps up with its most international line-up yet.
Tokyo Big Site was home to more than 75,845 trade visitors attending the seventh edition of Wine & Gourmet Japan. The three-day trade fair, showcasing the world’s best wine, beer, spirits, and gourmet food, welcomed food & beverage industry professionals from around Japan and Asia.
Together with its partner trade fairs, FABEX, Dessert Sweets & Drinks Festival, PB-OEM, Halal Market Fair, Japan Meat Industry Fair, and Noodle Industry Fair, there were a total of 908 exhibitors from over 22 countries around the world. Wine & Gourmet featured 181 exhibitors and more than 60% are from overseas.
“The seventh edition of Wine & Gourmet Japan is the pinnacle event for F&B professionals worldwide, and this year we welcomed new countries and thousands of new faces to our gastronomic family,” said Mr Michael Dreyer, Vice President Asia Pacific, Koelnmesse Pte Ltd.
International exhibitors from all over the globe including Georgia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Thailand, South Africa, and Australia showcased their best in more than 15 new and returning pavilions.
“Wines of Germany organised for the second time the German pavilion at Wine & Gourmet. Our exhibiting importers confirmed that the fair was unexpectedly successful for them and that they met a lot of potential re-sellers and customers,” said Manuela Liebchen, Marketing Manager (Asia) at German Wine Institute.
Haruki Takano, Director of Takano Sohonten said, “At Wine & Gourmet Japan, we can always meet up with a large number of responsible persons such as master chefs from hotel and restaurants, decision makers of retailers and et cetera. This is also a very good chance to get an overview of the whole wine market and its trends.”
A Stellar Array of Activities
Wine & Gourmet Japan hosted over 24 seminars and side programs, with master classes conducted by distinguished speakers like Mr. Makoto Endo (Board Member and Secretary-General of the Association of Nippon’s Wine Lovers), Ms. Caroline Guthier (German Wine Princess 2016), and Mr. Daisuke Shoji (Senior Wine Glass Educator, Certified Sommelier of Japans Sommelier Association).
Night of Wines, a returning favourite attended by international wineries and Japan’s top wine professionals, was fully sold out. The evening of fine wine and networking overlooking Tokyo’s skyline was jointly organised with Wine Kingdom, Japan’s most influential wine magazine.
The Wine Pairing program, organised by Wine Kingdom, gave visitors a sampling of wines found throughout the exhibition, and covered the best wine matching methods specifically for meat. The crowd favourite Label Contest had visitors vote on the most outstanding label design, with winners enjoying prominent coverage throughout the fair. Meeting supply with demand, Wine & Gourmet Japan 2016 provided a platform for exhibitors and importers to showcase and partner each other in its new Importers Wanted Area.
“I like to think of Wine & Gourmet Japan as a global village. We are surrounded by like-minded professionals, and exchange ideas, cultures, and food all around the world. It truly brings us all closer together as an industry,” said Nedim Behar, Managing Director, E.L.F.B. (Thailand) Co. Ltd. for the brand Chaidim Organic Tea. “This was exactly the platform that our wine producers needed. The show really helped us amplify our publicity efforts efficiently to the correct audience, and has opened a great many doors for us,” said Elene Kiknadze, Marketing Manager, National Wine Agency of Georgia.
