Hello and welcome to the US Commercial Service Market Brief.

I'm Doug Barry in Washington.

President Obama has announced the National Export Initiative, and the goal of doubling US

Exports and creating tens of thousands of new jobs

during the next five years.

For the first time

the United States of America is launching a single

comprehensive strategy to promote

American exports.

It's called the National Export Initiative.

It's an ambitious effort to marshal the full resources of the United States government

by American businesses that sell their goods and services abroad.

In my state of the union address I set

a goal of doubling

America's exports over the next five years.

An increase that will support two million American jobs.

Several Oregon companies got a jump start on this goal

with help from the US commercial service and our strategic partner friends at FedEX.

Today's program is titled:

“I'll Try the Reds:

Selling Oregon Wine in China”

Hmm this chardonnay looks a little, light.

For those of you who haven’t experience one, this is a video conference.

In the big part of the screen is a group of wine buyers gathered in Hong Kong early one

Morning,

to see a presentation by three wine growers in Oregon's beautiful Willamette Valley.

They will appear in the smaller box in the lower right-hand corner of the screen

It’s evening there,

better time for wine tasting.

Video conferences are one way of selling products to international buyers without the expense

of flying across oceans to meet them

My colleagues in Hong Kong found the buyers,

got them interested in the Oregon wines,

and brought everybody together

My colleagues at the Export Assistance Center in Oregon

found the wine growers.

The companies are FedEX express customers

and FedEX, along with other partners,

is working with the US to double US exports

and create more jobs.

OK, let's listen in

as the US consul general in Hong Kong greets his guests.

Now today's event,

“The Marriage of Digital Communications, Express Logistics and Age Old Viticulture”,

is like one of today's featured wines,

a very fine blend.

Our heartfelt appreciation to the three wineries,

EIEIO, Ken Wright Cellars and

Willamette Valley Vineyards,

Who in a few minutes we'll be introducing us to nine

excellent products not yet available in Hong Kong.

The next speaker is Raymond Yip,

Executive Director of the Hong Kong government’s Trade Development Association.

He wets everyone’s whistle

with talk of China's growing thirst

for up market wines.

Hong Kong also is a very

strong wine drinking culture.

Our consumption of wine

actually tops Asia.

We surpass Japan as the largest

per capita consumer of wine.

Everyone in Hong Kong consumes on average

about three point three liters of wine, compared to about two point five in Japan, and one point nine in Singapore.

This is expected to increase to four point two liters by The year 2012

Of course,

This is only a statistical figure.

Actually we sell a lot of

Them to other parts of the world.

Per capita wine consumption is a good thing for US producers to know.

Four plus liters and growing is a fine thing

as more people develop the language of drinking

Flavors of cassias and cherries,

notes of peach

and cinnamon.

A brilliant finish.

The Oregon growers however

know that more is needed to compete.

Watch now as they position their wines with the ultimate consumer in mind.

And we're really trying to take a nutritionally based approach to farming.

We feel we are trying to promote the health,

not only of the vine and the grapes, but of the soil and the micro-organisms that exist in the soil.

And so even though

we are not labeled Organic, we are labeled Bio-Dynamic,

we don't feel that that is a necessary tool for us because in the end

it's the nutrition that’s in the soil and in our vines that matters the most.

Now that the buyers are intrigued by the philosophy of how the grapes are made,

they are prepped for the next presenter

Hello, and thank you for coming

early in the morning to taste. I know that may be difficult

but it will be fun. Just remember it’s grape juice.

And thank you FedEX, for hosting this as well as Jim for putting it up with us

I have one Chardonnay,

and two Pinot Noir we are tasting tonight. The majority of what I do is make Pinot Noir,

ninety percent production wise.

The Chardonnay is made in the traditional way of French oak,

perhaps twenty percent in most vintages, neutral

French oak, or at least once used and the rest is in small stainless steel barrels.

Each barrel gets a different yeast,

as opposed to

the Pinot Noir, I make it in the old-fashioned style in that whatever yeast happens to be

on the grapes

that happens to ferment

the wine.

Many of the questions from the buyers focused on price, but in response to a different question

one of the Oregon producers added another competitive advantage.

Lots of fertile land to titillate the taste buds

of additional

millions of Chinese wine drinkers.

And the Oregon wine industry

has made a substantial commitment

to opening markets in the Pacific Rim.

We’ve done quite a bit of trade visits to the Pacific Rim

There's a very strong cultural link between Oregon, because of

where we're located,

and our businesses,

and our families.

And so there's a strong interest in many levels

to have our wines represented in the Pacific Rim

and other markets.

One of the things that

Mr. Yet pointed out is

it's the similarities between Burgundy and the Willamette Valley and it’s really true.

But there is one remarkable difference.

Burgundy is virtually all planted,

and yet the Willamette Valley

has over one hundred thousand acres of prime vineyard land that has yet to

be planted.

We have only about fifteen thousand acres in the Willamette Valley planted.

So the opportunities

for growth

from this

appellation

for worldwide sales is really quite remarkable.

Bottom line is did all this work to the wine growers benefit.

Well, we know of one confirmed sale of twenty thousand dollars

and several sales are pending.

This is a good result,

considering the information usually needs to ferment a bit

before orders follow.

And there are not many other ways to get in front of motivated buyers who can test drive

your product,

all under the auspices of the US and Hong Kong governments

with whom you can share

a glass of wine.

Don't make wine and aren't interested in China?

No problem.

The video conference services are available in many countries throughout the world.

Go to Export.gov

find your local Export Assistance Center. Call them and say

“Video Conferencing”

(Cheers all around) 0:08:25.179,0:08:26.739 Okay, Cheers

Thank you.

for the US Commercial Service Market Brief

I'm Doug Barry in Washington.

Thanks for watching.