Wine gains more Asian exposure

The Great Southern wine industry’s exposure to Asian markets is set to continue at this year’s Qantas Wine Show of WA with the second consecutive appointment of an international guest judge.

Picture: Diwen Qiu from Singapore is this year’s international guest wine judge. Picture: Vino Vogue

Last year, Hong Kong-based master of wine Debra Meiburg revelled in her maiden visit to the region, where she took part in judging at the State’s premier wine show and was highly impressed with the quality of local pinot noir.

This year, Singapore-based wine writer and consultant Diwen Qiu is part of the 15-strong judging panel given the task of tasting and rating 1100 wines over three days.

She first visited the Great Southern last year and says she is excited about her role as guest judge.

“I was quite impressed with the wines from the area, which is quite different from South Australia where I studied,” Ms Qiu said.

“It’s unique in its characteristics, the quality surprised me and the price ratios to go with that quality were good.”

Ms Qiu said she would use her experience at the Qantas Wine Show to help perpetuate the reputation of WA wines in Asia.

“It’s still quite unknown outside of Australia, so I’ll be very happy to promote and write about WA wines.”

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