Philippe Carrant and Michael Rogers are two like-minded partners who created Wines Overland to help European winegrowers export their wines to the Asia-Pacific region.
The Frenchman deals with the sourcing and the British-Singaporean handles sales and marketing. Both speak French, are passionate about Asia and interchangeable. The company posted turnover of €16m last year and has offices in Paris and Hong Kong.
Its markets are primarily Japan, Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan and China. The main focus is to develop long term sales, “not one shot deals” and “not just value wines”, says Carrant. Their portfolio includes simple, medium and high-end wines from small producers, co-operative wineries and a few premium estates. “In Asia, wines need to have a private label, something with a story to tell consumers”, says Rogers. “We help them do that”.
Covid has made logistics challenging but lockdown measures may have had two beneficial effects. With restaurants closed, some Asian consumers in Singapore and Korea have started drinking wine at home. This type of consumption is less “showy”, and more “pleasurable” and “sincere”, and the hopes are that it will continue. Similarly, in many countries, consumers have turned to better quality offerings, with higher average prices, and that is excellent news for European winegrowers!
Have the partners ever considered importing Asian wines into Europe? “That's a different business altogether!”, the two men reply in unison.
Wines Overland
