Austrian wine board targets markets like India
The Austrian Wine Marketing Board (AWMB) increased the number of wine buyers visiting its biennial Vienna wine show for the first time by about 100, with a fair representation from new markets such as India. According to Willi Klinger, managing director of The Austrian Wine Marketing Board (AWMB), the objective of VieVinum, which takes place every alternate year, is to expand trade.
Referring to Asia and eastern Europe as areas where Austrian wine sales are historically weak, Klinger told David Longfield of Drinks International , "It was one of my strategic objectives to bring in new buyers from the emerging markets."
AWMB this year invited 840 guests from around the world, including 500 buyers and 250 journalists, compared to about 700 in 2008. While the Indian wine market is considered to be tiny compared to some of the other Asian markets, wine producing countries still see great potential in the Indian market. They also see the value of making early investments to build the reputations for their countries and certain labels specifically. As a result, they continue to keep a close watch on the Indian market.
These wine producing countries expect the prohibitive taxation policies to change in time and want to be well positioned to take leadership stakes in the market when that happens.
