A taste of Oregon wins over Chinese.

Byline: Ilene Aleshire The Register-Guard

Three Oregon wines, including one from a Eugene winery, are on the wine list for hotels at the new Hong Kong Disneyland - a major boost for the state's wine industry, according to the Oregon Wine Board.

"To get one wine on the list at a property like this is great," said Doyle Hinman, China marketing coordinator for the wine board. "To get two is unbelievable. To get three is simply unfathomable."

Two of the wines chosen by the Disney hotels were from Roseburg-based Henry Estate: a 1999 barrel select Pinot noir and a 2002 Pinot noir. The third is a Viognier from Eugene Wine Cellars, based in downtown Eugene.

This kind of exposure on the international level validates not just the wineries involved but the Oregon wine industry as a whole, said Dan Cooley, the Eugene winery's national director of sales and marketing. "It's another milestone in Oregon wines being accepted and recognized. We're kind of jazzed from that perspective. It opens a door in the global community sense. ... This is the tip of the iceberg."

The new Disneyland, which opened this week, is seen as a gateway not only to the China market but also to other Asian markets that are developing a taste for premium wines.

"The property and the cachet of Disney will be a magnet to people of means in China and elsewhere in Asia," said Hinman, who is also sales director for Henry Estate.

A big part of being chosen by the Disney property is that it identifies the Oregon wines as as being higher end, not cheap wines, Cooley said. "We want to be respected and appreciated as a quality product."

Oregon's wineries made their first foray into China last year, with Henry Estate, King Estate, which is based in Lane County, and Amity Vineyards in Yamhill County shipping 1,250 cases.

While this wasn't a spectacular showing, according to the state Agriculture Department, it is the opening wedge into a potentially large, lucrative market.

Now, the state's wineries are looking at Korea and Taiwan, said Brian Liu, international trade manager with the state Agriculture Department.

Fourteen Oregon wineries have been sending wine to Korea within the last year, according to the department.

Cooley said that Eugene Wine Cellars is sending its first shipment of wine to the Philippines on Monday.

"This is not a flash-in-the-pan thing," he said of Oregon's growing exports of wine to Asia.

The Oregon agriculture department is hoping to piggyback other agricultural products onto wine exports to Asia, particularly foods often paired with wine, such as seafood, pears and cheese.