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Wine Australia China Awards announced

Last night in Shanghai, Australia honoured trade professionals in China that have made “outstanding contributions” to promoting and raising awareness of Australian wine in the country, which is now the most profitable market for Australian winemakers.

The 6th annual ‘Wine Australia China Awards’ recognised importers, distributors, sommeliers, educators and media who have contributed to Australia’s powerful presence in the world’s fastest-growing wine market. China now accounts for more than AU$1 billion of the country’s overall export value.

Speaking at the awards dinner in Shanghai, Wine Australia’s CEO Andreas Clark said: “China is our number one wine export market by value and these awards reflect our appreciation and gratitude to the trade for helping us achieve such widespread recognition and respect for Australian wine.

“This strong growth is the result of a lot of hard work by Australia’s wine exporters and is a testament to the support of trade professionals, educators and media championing Australian wine in China.”

Australian wine has grown exponentially in China. Domestically, the Australian government invested a AU$50 million ‘Export and Regional Wine Support Package’ to boost Australian exports in overseas markets particularly in China. In China, the country’s set to scrap wine tariffs completely on Australian wines starting from 1 January next year, thanks to the two countries’ Free Trade Agreement.

Wine Australia’s regional general manager for North Asia, David Lucas, added: “We are celebrating really impressive growth for Australian wine in China with exports increasing by 24%, to the value of AU$1.06 billion.”

In total, eight awards were given out to sommeliers, wine educators, and merchants. ‘Best Australian Wine List’ (sponsored by KPMG Sydney Royal Wine Show) went to Jing An Shangri-La West Shanghai, while ‘Best Australian Wine Promotional Campaign – on premise’ was given to Kerry Wines.

‘Best Australian Wine Promotional Campaign – online stores’ was awarded to ASC Fine Wines, and Dorian Tang from ASC also won ‘Best Australian Wine Educator’ (sponsored by Barossa Wine School) award. ‘Best Feature Story on Australian Wine – consumer media’ was given to CEO World. Three personality awards for ‘Best Feature Story on Australian Wine – trade media’, ‘Online Wine Communicator of the Year’ and ‘Online Food and Wine Communicator of the Year’, went to Chinese wine influencer, Terry Xu of Wine Missionary, China’s leading online wine sales personality, Lady Penguin and Eva Xie, respectively.

Held on the eve of the ProWine China wine fair in Shanghai, one of China’s most important wine expos. The three-day fair from 13 November to 15 November at Shanghai New International Expo Centre attracted 750 exhibitors with an increased exhibition space of 20% compared with last year.

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