Published Wednesday, 09 July, 2008 at 02:27 PM
Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry
The Honourable Desley Boyle
Koreans to toast Darling Downs wines
The publisher of Korea’s leading wine magazine Wine Review is leading a high level wine delegation to Queensland this week, Minister for Tourism, Regional Development and Industry Desley Boyle said today.
Ms Boyle said the group will visit winemakers in the Darling Downs on Thursday.
“The Korean wine market is growing rapidly, especially for red wine – they are looking for new and interesting products that offer consumers more,” Ms Boyle said.
“Korea’s per capita income is among the highest in Asia so there’s huge potential to grow Queensland wine exports into this market.
“In fact, there now two ‘Darling Downs’ restaurants in Korea that feature Darling Downs-produced cuisine and beverages on their menus.
“The restaurants serve red wines from Jimbour Wines as their premium house wine and specialise in wagyu beef – it’s exciting to think what we could see next after this delegation.”
Ms Boyle said this week’s delegation follows the successful Wine Trade Mission to Korea in 2007, which resulted in three separate Queensland wineries receiving wine orders to a total expected value of about $50,000.
“What was great from last year’s trade mission to Korea was that all importers were interested in one or more of the wines presented and considered our wine to be equal or superior to other imported products,” Ms Boyle said.
“Some interesting points were that in terms of packaging there was a preference for wine to be bottled under cork rather than screw caps and wines presented in tall bottles were often considered superior.”
Member for Toowoomba North Kerry Shine said the group’s Darling Downs tour would be an opportunity to build on the region’s growing reputation for quality produce.
“Koreans already have a small amount of knowledge on what the Darling Downs region has to offer, so this is a great opportunity to again showcase just how good our local drop is,” Mr Shine said.
“Wine Review is Korea’s most important source of wine information with a distribution of 15,000 a month.”
Comprising two Korean wine importers, three media representatives from Wine Review and two wine professors from the Yeungnam University, the delegation is a joint initiative of Queensland’s Trade and International Operations Office in Korea and the Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry.
Media contact:
Marcus Taylor 3225 1005 or 0419 025 326
Kirstie Maier 3224 2007 or 0448 135 195
8 July, 2008
Ms Boyle said the group will visit winemakers in the Darling Downs on Thursday.
“The Korean wine market is growing rapidly, especially for red wine – they are looking for new and interesting products that offer consumers more,” Ms Boyle said.
“Korea’s per capita income is among the highest in Asia so there’s huge potential to grow Queensland wine exports into this market.
“In fact, there now two ‘Darling Downs’ restaurants in Korea that feature Darling Downs-produced cuisine and beverages on their menus.
“The restaurants serve red wines from Jimbour Wines as their premium house wine and specialise in wagyu beef – it’s exciting to think what we could see next after this delegation.”
Ms Boyle said this week’s delegation follows the successful Wine Trade Mission to Korea in 2007, which resulted in three separate Queensland wineries receiving wine orders to a total expected value of about $50,000.
“What was great from last year’s trade mission to Korea was that all importers were interested in one or more of the wines presented and considered our wine to be equal or superior to other imported products,” Ms Boyle said.
“Some interesting points were that in terms of packaging there was a preference for wine to be bottled under cork rather than screw caps and wines presented in tall bottles were often considered superior.”
Member for Toowoomba North Kerry Shine said the group’s Darling Downs tour would be an opportunity to build on the region’s growing reputation for quality produce.
“Koreans already have a small amount of knowledge on what the Darling Downs region has to offer, so this is a great opportunity to again showcase just how good our local drop is,” Mr Shine said.
“Wine Review is Korea’s most important source of wine information with a distribution of 15,000 a month.”
Comprising two Korean wine importers, three media representatives from Wine Review and two wine professors from the Yeungnam University, the delegation is a joint initiative of Queensland’s Trade and International Operations Office in Korea and the Department of Tourism, Regional Development and Industry.
Media contact:
Marcus Taylor 3225 1005 or 0419 025 326
Kirstie Maier 3224 2007 or 0448 135 195
8 July, 2008