VERONA, Italy, July 17,
2019 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- After successful events in
Russia and Canada, the Native Grape Odyssey (NGO) turns
its gaze towards the Far East. Following the press conferences that
were held on 18th June in Moscow
and 10th July in Toronto, NGO is
organising a press tour in Tokyo
from 22th to 24th July. The traveling event will take place in some
of the Japanese capital's most iconic oenological sites and
institutions, in order to announce NGO's upcoming events in the
country.
Europe is not new for
Japan, in fact locals already have
a strong affinity for European food and wine. Shigeru Hayashi also emphasises the importance
of European products to the Japanese. Hayashi is a journalist and
wine consultant who participated in the launch of NGO in April of
this year. During a conference held at Vinitaly entitled: "Exports
of Italian wine to Japan following
the EPA agreement: what are the prospects?", Hayashi stressed that
"there are more than 10, 000 Italian restaurants on Japanese soil".
If we add French restaurants to these, which enjoy an almost
equivalent presence, we begin to appreciate the immense importance
of European food and wine to the Japanese.
Although the presence of European food and beverages is already
consolidated in Japan, the
European denomination system remains a mystery to ordinary
consumers. This was the unanimous message that emerged from among
Japanese participants who attended the launch of NGO, from various
sectors of the wine industry, such as wine journalism, education
and import. They emphasised that although consumers experience a
deep fascination for European food and beverage products, they
often find it difficult to choose quality products imported from
Europe. The principle reasons for
this are the overwhelmingly wide variety and a general lack of
information.
A project like NGO, whose activities are specifically aimed at
disseminating information about the European denomination system
through education, thus assumes considerable importance in a
country such as Japan with its
strong potential as a market for European products.
With the aim of clearly communicating the NGO message to a wide
audience, the NGO team has opted for a 'press tour' which will
include several events. These will take place from July 22nd to 24th in Tokyo, which will be the host city for the
2019 NGO events. During these three days, NGO will be meeting with
some of the most important stakeholders in the Japanese wine
industry, wine importing companies, retail chains of quality
products and wine schools. On top of this, NGO will also be
presenting its educational program to wine journalists, wine
consultants and wine educators. Last but not least, the NGO tour
will also engage several institutions which represent Europe in Japan.
NGO will be experimenting with a new format to announce future
events. However, the approach remains in line with the guiding
principles of the project. Above all, the NGO project aims to
engage people as individuals, with the important objective of
mentoring and supporting spokespeople of European wine across the
world. The ultimate goal of NGO is to ensure that these
spokespeople have the tools to become real heroes. We envision them
becoming points of reference for Japanese consumers, to enable them
to make informed choices around which European products they
purchase.
Participation in the NGO press tour in Japan is by invitation only. Those interested
in finding out more about the NGO project can consult the website
for Japan
(japan.nativegrapeodyssey.com) and may request further information
at the following email address: info@nativegrapeodyssey.com
About: Native Grape Odyssey is a project financed by the
European Union and managed by Unione Italiana Vini and Zante
Agricultural Cooperatives Union for the promotion of PDO and PGI
European wines abroad, in particular in three countries:
Japan, Canada and Russia. In order to achieve this, the Native
Grape Odyssey educational program will organize wine seminars,
workshops and b2b meetings both in these countries and in
Verona, Italy, inviting wine experts and influencers
from these countries. These events, realized in the span of three
years (2019-21) aim at creating awareness about European native
wines abroad, in particular Italian and Greek wines, which share a
long tradition and a high standard of quality.
SOURCE Native Grape Odyssey