New York Wine Success Story in Japan

Report Highlights:
Go-to Wine, a newly created wine division of Shinko Bussan Co. Ltd., started importing wine from New York in the spring of 2013 and made its first promotion at the New York Fair held at Hankyu Department Store in Osaka, Japan from May 15 to 21, 2013. They sold over 220 bottles of New York wine, well beyond their expectations, and received a positive feedback from customers during the fair. This successful debut of New York wine was supported by close collaboration between New York Wine and Grape Foundation and ATO Japan.

Go-to Wine, a newly created wine division of Shinko Bussan Co. Ltd., started importing wine from New York in the spring of 2013 and made its first promotion at the New York Fair, held at Hankyu Department Store in Osaka from May 15 to 21, 2013.

The New York fair at Hankyu Department Store showcased a wide range of food products from New York along with other non-food items such as jewelry, clothing, and cosmetics. New York wine was one of the main food products featured at the fair along with cupcakes, cheesecake, NY deli meats, etc. Shinko Bussan brought eight varieties of New York wine and sold more than 220 bottles during the fair. The sales were well beyond their expectations and the company was quite satisfied with the result. In particular, the company was pleased to observe positive reactions to their wine among admirers of New York who visited the fair. Mr. Goto, Director of Go-to Wine division, is now confident with his strategy to target New York fans and is ready to promote New York wine actively in the Japanese market. ATO Japan will continue to support the company in order to gain higher recognition for New York wine from Japanese customers.

This successful debut of New York wine was supported by close collaboration between New York Wine and Grape Foundation and ATO Japan. It all started at Foodex 2012, the largest food trade show in Japan held inMarch, in which Mr. Goto of Shinko Bussan met with Ms Fumie Thorpe, from New York Wine and Grape Foundation. The following is how this encounter led to the success of New York wine debut at Hankyu’s New York fair in May, 2013.