Canadian wineries plan to spend more effort exploring foreign markets, including Taiwan, in a move to globally promote Canada’s high-quality grape and ice wines, Canada’s representative to Taiwan said.
Canadian Trade Office in Taipei Executive Director Kathleen Mackay told the Central News Agency (CNA) that Canada has gone from having a very small wine industry to having a medium-sized one, owing to its research on improving the growth ability of vines in the high-latitude nation.
Processes known as “microclimate technology” have helped boost the number of wineries in Canada from 374 in 2005 to 476 in 2011, allowing the nation to expand its wine exports and play a key role in the global market, she said.
“We are not going to replace all the other international producers, but I think we have got some successful wines that can surprise people,” Mackay said.
To fight counterfeiters of Canada’s iconic ice wines, with reports of the practice in north Asia, the envoy urged consumers to check bottles of Canadian ice wine for a Vintners Quality Alliance (VQA) label — a regulatory system that guarantees the high quality and authenticity of origin for the products.
According to data compiled by the Canadian Vintners Association, whose member wineries represent more than 90 percent of the nation’s wine production, Canadian wine exports more than doubled from C$20.3 million (US$18 million) in 2008 to C$41.2 million in 2012.
The top 10 export markets in 2012 were Taiwan, China, the US, South Korea, Hong Kong, the UK, Singapore, Japan, Russia and Malaysia, representing 99.7 percent of the export sales volume, the association said.
The sales value of Canadian wine exports to Taiwan rose steadily from C$665,485 in 2008 to C$737,977 in 2012, with sales volume declining slightly from 21,389 liters to 20,943 liters, the national industry group said.
Canadian wine exports to Taiwan are expected to continue growing in the coming years because of increasing demand from Taiwanese customers, said Joe Huang, head of JDT international Trading Co, a sales agent representing seven Ontario wineries in Taiwan.
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