FAQ - Exporting Wine & Spirits to Asia-Pacific

Your Wine Rep is a wine & spirits export agency founded in January 2020, with offices in Shanghai, Seoul and Paris. We represent wineries and distilleries across Asia-Pacific and Africa: we find reliable importers, run tastings on the ground, and manage the relationship through to reorders. Our team works in English, French, Chinese, Korean and Japanese.

There is no shortcut. Finding the right importer takes ground work: identifying the importers whose portfolio actually fits your wines, getting samples in front of them, tasting face-to-face, and following up with diligent presence over months. Lists and databases give you names; they don't give you a relationship. That sustained local presence is precisely what an agent on the ground provides.

We measured it across our own signed mandates: the first confirmed order has arrived anywhere between 2 and 10 months after signing, with most landing around the 7-10 month mark. Plan for 6-12 months of ground work - tastings, samples, diligent follow-up - and treat anything faster as a bonus, not the norm. Wineries that support the process (fast answers, samples ready, realistic pricing) consistently sit at the shorter end of that range.

It depends on your wines and price positioning, not on market size rankings. Japan rewards consistency and long-term relationships; Korea moves faster and its online-first boutiques actively hunt for distinctive stories; China is in a selective phase where whites, sparkling and unusual regions outperform. A portfolio review against each market is the honest first step - we do this assessment with every new partner.

Sometimes, and it's worth knowing before you ship samples. Some markets have mandatory back-label requirements; beyond compliance, packaging expectations differ - gifting culture, shelf formats and e-commerce photography all influence what sells. We advise partners case by case.

We work as your dedicated representative in the markets we cover, and every arrangement is defined in a clear agreement. Talk to us about the scope that fits your existing distribution.

From our tastings across the region: coherent ranges with a clear entry point and a clear step up; wines with a genuine story or a rare origin; whites and lower-alcohol styles; and producers who answer fast and support their importer. Price matters - but it's rarely the first question anymore.