Vinexpo is a wine trade show and it is the biggest in the Asia-Pacific.

The Orange Region had a very strong presence with eight brands taking our place in the Australian contingent.

Right now, six Orange winemakers (pictured) are city hopping with the China Roadshow contingent.

As I write they are leaving Shenyang and heading for Jinan to showcase their wines to importers, distributors, wholesalers, sommeliers, buyers, media, influencers and VIP consumers.

They are telling the story of our wine, our food and our cool, clean region.

Jinan, as the smallest of the Chinese cities that the Roadshow is visiting, has a bigger population than Sydney, so there is plenty of opportunity to develop new contacts, buyers and importers.

Shenyang, which is in the north near the North Korean border, has 11 million people.

I spoke, via WeChat, to Justin Jarrett to get a sense of the reception, “Australia is flavour of the month thanks to the Vinexpo exposure. It’s incredible.

The number of knowledgeable wine people over here is astounding.

Many just can’t believe the quality of our wines – the fine acid line and how well they go with food.”

Have they moved beyond Shiraz? “Well, yes and no. Like everywhere there is a strong association with Shiraz as the wine of Australia but we have shown Sparkling, Chardonnay and Pinot Noir as well. They are hungry for knowledge about us and our wines.”

What next? “No doubt there are great opportunities, we’ll assess the contacts and our ability to sustain a part of this market.”

Strawhouse Wines

Justin Byrne and Meg Simpson own and operate Strawhouse Wines, a boutique winery in the cool climate Orange Wine Region. They planted their vineyard in 1997. They live in a strawbale house that we built in 1998 on their vineyard outside of Orange. 

Pictured Above: L to R: Jonathan Hambrook, Stockmans Ridge; David Swift, Printhie; James Robson, Ross Hill; Justin Jarrett, See Saw; Ben Crossing, Angullong; Damian Shaw, Philip Shaw Wines.