Quality and diversity celebrated at biggest ever Australian wine tour of the Nordics

The quality and diversity of Australian wine was celebrated at Wine Australia’s largest ever Nordic Roadshow, held in Finland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden earlier this month.

More than 900 trade and consumers attended Wine Australia’s Nordic Roadshow, which took place in four cities across two weeks. Attracting a record number of guests, this year’s roadshow also showcased a record number of wines: over 1100 wines from 104 producers, representing more than half of Australia’s 65 wine regions. Some of the wineries were familiar names in market, but others were new discoveries, with 41 producers not yet in market and seeking distribution.

The programme in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm comprised a trade master class, ‘Sustainable Australia’ hosted by Wine Australia’s Education Manager Mark Davidson, followed by a trade tasting and a consumer tasting. Winemakers who flew over from Australia to pour their wines included Andrew Watson (Woodlands Wines), Ben Heide (Patritti), Caroline Mooney (Bird on a Wire), Emma Norbiato (Calabria Family Wines), Hamish MacGowan (Angus The Bull), Jenny Semmler (919 Wines), Peter Logan (Logan Wines), Ray Nadeson (Lethbridge Wines), Sarah Fagan (De Bortoli Wines), Steven Worley (The Hairy Arm) and Tod Dexter (Route du Van).

New to this year’s roadshow was a focus table on Artisans and Sustainable Australia, hotly discussed topics and trends that are gaining momentum across the world. Guests got an in-depth look into how the artisans and pioneering young guns are shaking up the Australian wine scene and learnt more about organic, biodynamic and sustainable winemaking.

With a broad range of styles and grape varieties on show, the reaction to the wines was very positive from guests, who were impressed with the high quality and diversity.

Wine writer Kristiina Vahvaselkä attended the master class and tasting in Helsinki:

‘It was a great opportunity to taste a diverse, exciting range of Australian wine and meet the people behind the wines. The master class was really informative and demonstrated the quality and breadth of wines made by sustainable and organic methods.’

Sommelier Tommy Lennartsson summed up the tasting in Stockholm:

‘It was a very good tasting, showing the sheer variety of premium Australian wines. I discovered some interesting wineries that I’d now like to visit on my trip to Australia early next year.’

Exhibitors commented on the enthusiasm of the trade and consumers, and how beneficial it was to meet them to gain a better understanding of the market and create leads.

Patritti Winemaker Ben Heide said:

‘An excellent roadshow with an impressive turnout of high quality trade representatives and enthusiastic, knowledgeable consumers. We made positive connections with importers in Finland and Norway, we have promising leads with Danish importers with tentative orders already on the table, and we strengthened our relationship and boosted sales with our existing Swedish importer.’

Angove Family Winemakers’ Regional Export Manager Jonathan O’Neill said:

‘These roadshows provided a good way to catch up with the monopoly buyers and discuss our organic wines, which is a big part of Angove Family Winemakers these days. It was also important to collect consumer feedback on wine styles and the latest trends in the market.’ 

Wine Australia’s Head of Market EMEA Laura Jewell MW concluded:

‘The Nordic Roadshow was a success, showing guests the diversity of Australian wine and demonstrating to producers the commercial opportunities that the Nordic countries offer. There was a fantastic atmosphere at all four events and I was delighted to see the renewed excitement in Australian wine.’

For the full list of wineries and the tasting booklet for each event, please see:

Finland: https://www.wineaustralia.com/whats-happening/events/finnish-annual-tasting-2017
Denmark: https://www.wineaustralia.com/whats-happening/events/danish-annual-tasting-2017
Norway: https://www.wineaustralia.com/whats-happening/events/norwegian-annual-tasting-2017
Sweden: https://www.wineaustralia.com/whats-happening/events/swedish-annual-tasting-2017

For a selection of photos, please click here. 

For more information about the event or if you’re interested in exhibiting in the 2018 Nordic Roadshow, please contact Camilla Coste on camilla.coste@wineaustralia.com