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China, the world’s fastest-growing wine market, has a tremendous appetite for cork, viewed by Chinese consumers as a hallmark of a quality wine.

To tap into this demand the Portuguese Cork Association (APCOR) has launched its first ever cork academy programme in China in June 2018.

The goal of the “Train the Trainers” programme is to build a team of professional wine culture educators who will further the penetration of cork in one of the world’s largest wine markets.

The first initiative involved two 1-day workshops - in Shanghai and Guangzhou - that aim to nurture a holistic understanding towards wine and cork, covering a wide variety of topics on cork, ranging from its history, physical properties, production technicality, sustainability benefits and applications, to its benefits for wine evolution.

The Cork Academy graduates were certified as Approved Cork Educators, and are authorised to conduct cork education classes on behalf of APCOR in China over the next 12 months.

Amorim’s Marketing Director, Carlos de Jesus, Operational Director of APCOR’s InterCork programme, explains: “APCOR has been actively promoting the value propositions of cork, namely Culture, Nature and Future, in China for several years. In view of the enormous size and geographic spread of the China market, we want to have a sustainable way to carry out our cork education efforts there.”

The instructors of the Cork Academy programme include Denis Lin, a highly regarded wine educator in China who has been working closely with APCOR for years.

He states: “A growing number of Chinese consumers want to become informed and educated wine lovers. Nevertheless, despite its importance to wine, cork has been given a grudging role in local wine education. It is probably because not many wine educators are fully equipped with in-depth knowledge on cork. This initiative could provide local wine educators with the missing piece of this jigsaw puzzle.”