The Japanese is one of the most attractive markets for the wine sector due to its growth and its consumers’ profile, always ready to try new varieties and styles. According to data from the website Mercado Global, 21% of the wine enthusiasts in Japan are willing to taste new wines, whereas in 2012 it was only 15%. This basically means they are open to new concepts such as Pago Wine. According to ICEX, the main segment of consumption consists of women between 30 and 50 years old.

For Dehesa del Carrizal, this is an essential market for their international expansion. Therefore, for several years it has carried out a powerful commercial mission together with the group Zas and its main companies: Spainclub Ginza, Spainclub ALA, Spainclub Tsukishima and Mesón Cervantes. Last February, Dehesa del Carrizal organized different promotional activities in Japan, aiming at reinforcing the brand and launching the new vintages of its different wines .

Christophe Beele, Export Manager at the winery, was interviewed on Radio Tokyo together with the Japanese sommelier Satoshi Tsuneda and the food journalist Miki Kurihara about the concept of Pago Wine and the production process at Dehesa del Carrizal. Japanese consumers show an increasing interest in singular high quality wines, and new concepts such as Pago Wine are very appreciated for their particular features and singularities. They look for unique wines and Dehesa del Carrizal belongs to that class of wines, so appreciated in Japan by the specialized press, the sommeliers and the food enthusiasts. The new vintages from the winery were introduced in a wine-dinner organized by Spainclub in Tokyo.

Our trip to Japan has helped to consolidate some business contacts and to open new distribution points of our wines in the Eastern country, either through wine-bars and restaurants (El Buey, Reyes

Magos, Estación, El Puente, Muy, Las Bocas, El Caliente, Sal y Amor or through supermarkets and specialized shops (Daishin, Aeon Liquor Shop. Furthermore, the presence of Dehesa del Carrizal has been renovated and increased in prestigious Japanese cellars, such as those belonging to Koizumi Group, whose founder, the Japanese sake sommelier Koizumi, has created a new concept of food and wine pairing in his chain of restaurants and wine bars based on combining horse meat with sake and Dehesa del Carrizal Chardonnay.