Mr. Alexandre Petit answered our questions during the tasting of session 1 of the Singapore Wines Awards 2019.

Alexandre Petit is responsible for selections and purchases for 2 major import groups located in Taipei (for Mainland China and Taiwan) and Hong Kong for more than 10 years. His expertise in wine is highly recognized in Asia. In particular, he was selected by the 7-Eleven Group and other retail chains in China with more than 15,000 stores that has been communicating its expertise directly in stores for many years and still today.

How are the tastings of the second edition of Singapore Wine & Spirits Awards 2019?

We note a strong increase of registrations during this second edition, with wines, beers and spirits of a very high quality for the majority of the registered products.

The first edition in 2018 had an excellent impact overall for the medal-winning wines, which probably explains the strong growth of registrations in 2019.

We are delighted to taste new vintages and new high quality wines this year. The medal-winning products in 2019 will undoubtedly be very popular with Asian distributors because the competition is very important.

What criteria do you judge for wines, beers and spirits?

The rating criteria of the Singapore contest are very simple. We must judge each product according to its commercial potential with Singapore distributors.

It is a market-oriented competition, with members of the jury who are like me from the world of import and distribution, experts or specialized journalists.

The aim of this contest is not to belittle wines or to give ultra technical advice that is only useful for wine experts, but conversely to guarantee distributors intelligent purchasing in terms of product quality.

We give each tasted product a score ranging from 1 to 5, knowing that below 3 the products do not get a medal, between 3 and 4 they are medalists in Silver, and between 4 and 5 gold medalists .

A gold-medal-winning product guarantees distributors exceptional wines, beers and spirits compared to competing products on the same appellation, and a Silver-mediated product guarantees a very good quality also, without risk for distributors in Asia.

How do you see the evolution of the markets in the years to come?

I notice that consumers are becoming more focused to product content than brands, year after year.

According to various recent serious studies, it appears that most consumers could do without 90% of the current brands in the coming years.

The way of consuming is changing strongly in Asia, and consumers want to consume less but better, even if the price is higher.

Brands that will be resting on their name risk losing their market share in favor of more transparent suppliers in terms of product quality and production.

The number of recommendations, medals and other positive mentions on a product will undoubtedly have priority over brand names in a very short time.

This evolution is an excellent thing, in my opinion, for the sustainability of the wine, beer and spirits market, which is made up of tens of thousands of producers around the world who will be able to remain independent thanks to this evolution towards the search for content rather than the brand.

Finally, what do you think a competition like Singapore Wines & Spirits Awards can bring to producers who want to export to Asia?

Getting a medal at Singapore Wines & Spirits Awards, for example, can really help producers looking for new distributors in Singapore and even across Asia, because Singapore has a very prestigious image.

Distributors and consumers are reassured in their choices when a product has been awarded and recognized by specialists.

It can also greatly help products already distributed in Singapore to sustain their sales. Indeed, the communication on the content of products is in my opinion very important to retain customers over the long term.

This interview was done during the tasting of the Singapore Wines & Spirits Awards 2019 session 1. To register your wines, beers and spirits at the other competition sessions in 2019, you can still do it by clicking here.