Wine for Asia 2006 organisers have announced a professional wine course for regional wine importers where they'll get to attend lectures by leading wine educators, says a media release issued by the organisers, Singex Exhibitions.

The Certificate of Performance in International Wine Import is a collaboration between WFA2006 and Singapore Polytechnic. It will comprise two days of intensive classroom learning conducted by the Polytechnic on October 31 and November 1, which will be followed by "vineyard tours" at WFA2006 on November 2-4.

WFA will provide a 50% subsidy of the course fee of S$600 to wine importers visiting the show. Says Loy Joon How, Director, International Sales, Singex Exhibitions: "We have set a target to bring 100 regional importers to attend the course and we'll provide subsidy to the first 50 applicants. Any genuine wine importer from the region can apply for this subsidy."

The speakers lined up for the session include: Jeremy Oliver (Australia); Edwin Soon (Malaysia/Singapore); Ch'ng Poh Tiong (Singapore); Kirk Bauer (Germany); Jacqui Murphy (New Zealand); Thomas Percillier, CVBG, France; Giorgio Ferrari, Giorgio Ferrari Wine & Spirits, Italy; and Malcolm Tham (Singapore).