“Chasselas Goes Very Well with Sashimi and Sushi” Interview with Mr

ISSUE 120 M ay 2 0 19 Japan External Trade Organization

Fd “Chasselas goes very well with Sashimi and Sushi” Interview with Mr. Alexandre Centeleghe, Head of Events and Media at the Office des Vins Vaudois Inside this While Sake is becoming popular issue in Switzerland, Swiss wines are Chasselas 1 enjoying a similar trend in Japan. goes very well + We asked Mr. Alexandre Cen- with Sashimi 2 teleghe from the “Office des Vins and Sushi Vaudois” to tell us more about Greater Na- 3 their promotion efforts in Japan goya is back and why this market is im- at EPHJ- EPMT-SMT portant for the Winemakers of Canton Vaud. The trade 3 balance boosted Japa- Could you please introduce the nese GDP in “Office des Vins Vau- 2019’ first dois” (OVV)? quarter Mr. Centeleghe (centre) at OVV’s last event in Tokyo OVV is a wine promotion agency AI and 4 close to the Cantonal govern- crowdfund- Geneva Lac we have “Lavaux”, Which “cépages” do you have ment. OVV is financed by the ing for the 5th which is famous for its beautiful in Vaud? Nippon Ven- winemakers from Canton Vaud. landscape (registered by the Unlike other cantons that culti- ture Awards We are a small and dynamic UNESCO), “La Côte” between vate many different grape varie- team of 3 people with the aver- Geneva and Lausanne, and the ties, Vaud is highly specialized in age age of 34 and working close- “Chablais” in the eastern part of a couple of sorts. The main one 会見 ly to the board and its president the canton. by far is the Chasselas*. We are to build up our annual strategies. INTERVIEW very proud of it. It is a subtitle One of our main tasks today is to We also have three northern with the wine that retains very change the image of our wines in regions: “Les Côtes de l’Orbe”, well the characteristics of the the Swiss-German side of the “Bonvillars” near the Neuchâtel “terroir”. country. Sometimes they think Lac and “Vully” (shared with In a way, Vaud could be com- the wines from Canton Vaud are Canton Fribourg). The climate is pared to the French region Bur- a bit old fashioned. Today, the different between those regions gundy. Burgundy is also mostly a quality is here and we want peo- bringing an interesting diversity. “mono-culture” production but ple to know it. On the southern region, the Ge- with Chardonnay instead of

neva Lac influences the climate Chasselas. What are the specificities of making it more stable all over the wine from Canton Vaud? the year. In the north, especially Another comparison with Bur- Canton Vaud is the second larg- in Côtes de l’Orbe, the climate is gundy is that our two regions est Canton for wine production more continental and therefore have been shaped by Cistercian in Switzerland after Canton Va- winter can be colder and sum- monks. lais. We have six different re- mer can be warmer. gions in the canton. Near the (continued on page 2)

Page 2 JETRO Switzerland Newsletter

“Chasselas performs very well with Sashimi and Sushi” 会見 (continued from page 1) goes to the domestic market. reach a broader audience. Together This said, there are big differences we discuss the program. We target INTERVIEW Our vineyards are also delimitated among our members. Some are the trade fairs for professionals. with small stone walls (known as mostly only selling in in their close We also have some VIP events. “Clos” in Burgundy.) It contributes area and have no interest in export- Production costs in Switzerland to the beauty of our landscapes. ing their products. Others have a are expensive compared to other Vaud also produces some red wine, different approach by successfully countries; therefore we mostly fo- but the relatively cold climate is implementing an export strategy. cus on quality and the high-end less suitable for red wines. This For instance, Cyril Séverin from market. said, we have some Pinot Noir and Domaine du Daley exports 20% of Gamay that are definitely worth its production. This is quite re- How would you describe the Jap- tasting. markable. anese wine market? Generally speaking, Japan is clearly * The Chasselas is one of the most We also observe an interesting syn- a quality market. It is highly so- grapes for white wines around the ergy with the tourism industry. Our phisticated and people are used to world. It wears different names beautiful landscapes are becoming fine taste. I have been impressed by around the world. The first refer- more and more famous. Tourists the subtlety of Japanese somme- ences to this variety go back to the enjoy our wines during their trips liers. 16th and 17th centuries. According and want to have some back at Our past experiences show that the to a genetic study from Neuchatel home. Chasselas goes very well with raw University, the Chasselas seems to fish. be originally from Canton Vaud What has OVV done or what is it What may be improved is the di- (Vouillamoz and Arnold, 2009). doing to promote your wine in versity of wine choice on the mar- Japan? ket. How important are exports for OVV has been developing Japanese your members? market for the last 5 years. We have How important is Japan for Can- On average it is a small percentage, local partners there, mostly in To- ton Vaud’s producers? between 1 and 2%. Generally kyo. Thanks to our partners we Any sale is positive, of course, but speaking, most of the production in terms of quantity Japan is relatively small. As said, our exports volume is low. Nevertheless, the sales are increas- ing in Japan and the country is an interesting niche market. Japan has a positive image for most people. Therefore exporting there is some- thing winemakers are proud of. For the future, we will continue our promotional efforts in Japan. However, this year will be special for us with the organization of the Fête des Vignerons. Instead of go- ing to Japan, we will welcome our Asian partners in Vevey, including The famous composer Akira Senju (centre) has become an Ambassdor for chasselas professionals from Japan, Singa- pore and China.

Issue 120 Page 3

Greater Nagoya is back at EPHJ-EPMT-SMT Successfully attending to the EPHJ- – Japan Reception” with Speaker’s sake from different areas within the 活動 EPMT-SMT trade fair since 2015, Corner & Sake Apéro on June 20th Greater Nagoya region. Please cre- companies from Greater Nagoya (Thurs) 17:30 – 18:15, hosted with ate and print your badge to access ACTIVITY Area will attend the fair this year as the special support of Mr. Patrick freely at the trade show. well, inviting interested people to ROTH of the Swiss Precision Clus- www.ephj.ch/registration visit their booths and share sake. ter, where you will enjoy six distin- Organized by Greater Nagoya Initi- We are glad to share their message guished tastes of pure Japanese ative Center (GNIC). with our readers:

Message from GNI Greater Nagoya Initiative (GNI) plans to exhibit the Greater Nagoya – Japan booth [J110] at the trade show “EPHJ-EPMT-SMT” at Palex- po, Geneva, June 18th to 21st, 2019. Six leading companies from Greater Nagoya area will exhibit their dis- tinct technologies in this important professional fair. GNI would also like to invite Swiss companies to the “Greater Nagoya GNI’s booth in 2018 during the well appreciated “sake apéro“

The trade surplus boosted Japanese GDP in 2019’ first quarter The first preliminary figures for wiser not to over-interpret those paid a heavy tribute during the 動向 2019’s first quarter were published figures and wait to see what is hap- summer because of natural disas- on May 20 by the Cabinet Office. pening in the current quarter. For ters. TREND From January to March, the Japa- the record, last year, the Japanese *real growth rate, seasonally ad- nese GDP increased by 0.5% * economy was solid, even though it justed (2.1% annualized), surprising ex- perts excepting a small contraction. This good performance is mostly due to a strong contraction of imports (-4.6%) rather than an in- crease of domestic consumption or production. Imports dropping fast- er than the exports (-2.4%), it pos- itively impacted the net exports of goods and services (0.4%) account- ing for most of the GDP quarterly growth. At this point it might be More information here Issue 120 Page 4

AI and crowdfunding for the 5th Nippon Venture Awards 革新 On May 23, 2019, the Ministry of and Mr. Okanohara, can add this READYFOR Inc., the first Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry fifth Nippon Venture Awards to crowdfunding network. The com- INNOVATION (METI) decided on the winners of their already impressive list of pany received the Female Entrepre- the Nippon Venture Awards and awards. neur Award for the efforts of Ms. held a commendation ceremony at In addition to the Prime Minister’s Haruka to support other entrepre- the Prime Minister’s Office. Under Award, the METI awarded three neurs' success. this awards program, the govern- promising companies: Farmnote Inc. has developed cloud ment of Japan honors promising, RAKSUL Inc., for its efforts to based and AI tools for herd man- bold venture businesses that have maximise the capacity of existing agement. created ground-breaking business- companies such Yamato Holdings, es. Preferred Networks, Inc., a ven- a well establish a delivery company. More information here ture business committed to solving challenges in society through the excellent use of artificial intelli- gence, was recognized as a winner of the Prime Minister’s Award. Pre- ferred Networks works in three primary business domains: Trans- portation, Manufacturing and Bio/ Healthcare. The company applies machine learning and deep learning to robotics, works on objects recognition, has developed a system for early diagnosis of cancer based on blood sample and collaborates with Toyota in the field of autono- mous driving and connected cars. Prime Minister Abe (centre) flanked by Mr. Nishikawa co-founder of Preferred The two founders, Mr. Nishikawa Networks (left) and Ms. Haruka founder of RADYFOR (right).

Agenda 日程 ✓ EPHJ-EPMT-SMT, June 18-21, Palexpo Geneva

AGENDA Program and detail here

JETRO is a government-related organization that works to promote mutual trade and investment between Japan and the rest of the world. Originally established in 1958 to promote Japanese exports abroad, JETRO’s core focus in the 21st century has shifted toward promoting foreign direct investment into Japan and helping small to medium size Japanese firms maximize their global export potential. JETRO Geneva The JETRO Switzerland Newsletter can also be viewed and/or downloaded online: 80, Rue de Lausanne http://www.jetro.go.jp/switzerland/newsletter 1202 Geneva Phone: 022 732 13 04 Fax: 022 732 07 72 E-mail: [email protected]