US: Oregon wine, Japanese clients

/Mailtribune/ - It's easy to say "wine" in Japanese. It's pronounced the same as in English. That, along with Japan's increased interest in imported wines, makes it possible for Cave Junction producer Ted Gerber to sell thousands of cases across the Pacific. Selling wine to Japan presents challenges Japan is a potentially lucrative market for Oregon wine. But gaining a foothold is not easy. Sake, Japan's traditional rice wine, accounts for most of the wine market in Japan. The most popular imports from the past two decades come from France and Italy, which benefited from the global red wine boom in the late 1990s. New World wines from California, Australia and New Zealand have muscled into the market in the past few years. Competition halted Henry Estate's sales to Japan six years ago. Doyle Hinman, export sales director for Henry Estate, which is based in Umpqua, said the sales figures weren't satisfying and he dropped the distributor. He also sold bulk pinot noir for two years to a producer in the Japanese market, but when he didn't have excess wine the next year, that producer found another source. "Japan can be demanding and it's just hard to sustain the business," said Hinman, who sells in Taipei and Hong Kong, and will try to reach the entire Asian market by participating in Vinexpo Asia, a Hong Kong trade show in May, an effort endorsed by the Oregon Wine Board. Last year, Gerber, who owns Foris Vineyards and is one of the state's largest producers, received emails from Mottox wine distributors that he thought were spam. After checking with his sales and marketing director, Julianne Allen, he learned that Mottox was the fifth-largest wine distributor in Japan and its New World wine buyer was interested in his $30 Maple Ranch pinot noir.

Full Story