In June 2020 we launched 27 South African wines with Lotte Duty Free at Changi Airport, Singapore in the midst of the COVID pandemic when they took over the airport duty free shops. These included wines from Avondale, Cape Point Vineyards, Delaire Graff, Ernie Els, Groot Constantia and 88 Vineyards.
Role on three years and I made my first trip to Asia since COVID, and on Monday 17 July I managed to run my first in person training sessions with the Lotte merchandising teams from across the four terminals at Changi Airport, Singapore.
Although we ran tasting programmes on Zoom during the pandemic it was no competition for being face to face with the people that do the hard work and physically sell your products. Feeling the enthusiasm, watching the faces as they tasted the wines, receiving the positive feedback and excitement is something you cannot get on a computer monitor. It was a tremendous feeling and very energising to be with the Lotte merchandising teams.
We ran two sessions – both for almost 2 hours per session with a tasting of many of the wines, along with a presentation and discussion on what makes South African wine so special and appealing.
And following the wine tasting we finished off by tasting the newly launched Cape Diversity Gin!
In between the two sessions and after, I visited all four terminals and all the shops to get an idea of the merchandising and to discuss the potential for sales.
Attached are pictures from the training sessions with the Lotte merchandising staff and pictures from the shops of our wines.
