by Adam Lechmere – Christie’s China has become embroiled in a ‘misunderstanding’ with Bordeaux over translations of chateau names into Chinese.
Last week Christie’s announced it would publish a poster showing Chinese names for nearly all the 61 chateaux of the 1855 classification.
Although this is not the first time it has been done – Ch’ng Poh Tiong, Decanter columnist and publisher of the Singapore Wine Review, set up a phonetic translation system in 2008 – Christie’s head of wine for China, Simon Tam, implied it was official, with written approval from all but a handful of properties.
Now the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855, as well as a number of chateaux, are refusing to have anything to do with the poster, claiming they did not approve the translations. Continue reading “decanter.com: Bordeaux chateaux boycott Chinese names poster”
by Decanter.com staff – A Chinese man has been given a life sentence for illegally importing millions of dollars of fine wine into China.
Sun Xitai was convicted of forging invoices and import contracts to evade import duties on 70,000 bottles worth CNY45m (US$7.13m) between January 2004 and December 2009, the Beijing Times reported.
Sun altered the name, details and price of high-end wines imported from France, Britain and Hong Kong, stating they were cheap alcohol, the court said.
It is not clear which wines were imported, although one report said there were large amounts of Chateau Lafite, Latour and other blue-chip wines.
The report also said Sun imported high-end Nike and Adidas trainers, Oakley sunglasses and other luxury goods. Continue reading “decanter.com: Chinese businessman given life sentence for smuggling”
by Richard Woodard – Retired Chinese basketball star Yao Ming is returning to his homeland – with a 2009 Napa Valley 
Cabernet Sauvignon launched under his name.
Yao, who at 7ft 6in (2.29m) was the tallest player in the National Basketball Association (NBA) until his retirement earlier this year, established Yao Family Wines and will launch the Cabernet in China immediately, before a launch in the US next year.
The company said the grapes for the inaugural Yao Ming 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon were sourced from ‘prestigious Napa Valley vineyards with a reputation for excellent fruit’.
It added that the final blend was chosen from selected barrels, with all the wine aged for at least 18 months in French oak.
Shanghai-born Yao measured 5ft 5in at the age of 10, and played for the Houston Rockets in the NBA, reaching the play-offs four times and being named in the All-NBA Team five times. Continue reading “decanter.com: Chinese basketball star launches Napa wine”
by Adam Lechmere – While the market for the very top end of Bordeaux is correcting itself in China, interest in the lower end is increasing, Bordeaux negociants say.
Both CVBG Grands Crus and Vintex have told Decanter.com they are seeing ‘very strong interest’ in the 5th growth and Cru Bourgeois wines retailing at around €20.
Philippe Larché, one of the partners in negociant Vintex, which does 15% of its business in China, said wines like 5th growths Croizet-Bages and Pedesclaux in Pauillac, or Cantemerle in Medoc, were selling well in China. Continue reading “decanter.com: Chinese interest in lower-ranking chateaux increasing, say Bordeaux negociants”
by Richard Woodard – Chinese wine consumers use the internet and social media to source information far more than their 
western counterparts, according to new research.
Three quarters of wine consumers surveyed by research company Wine Intelligence said they often go online to look for wine information, with 62% frequently using social media as a source.
These ‘highly wired’ consumers are far less likely to rely on the recommendations of shop staff (32%) or word of mouth from friends and family (39%).
Wine Intelligence said the research, taken from interviews with more than 1,000 Chinese upper middle class drinkers of imported wine, offered a ‘dramatic’ contrast with western countries, where word of mouth is considered far more important. Continue reading “decanter.com: Chinese wine buyers highly wired – survey”
by Panos Kakaviatos in Shanghai – French and Chinese wine authorities are collaborating in an effort to fight counterfeit
bottles and educate Chinese consumers and importers.
The CIVB – the Bordeaux wine trade body – has been making random visits to Chinese supermarkets and wine shops in order to compile a database of false bottles, which has been passed on to Chinese investigators.
‘This is so that they can see links between companies that sell those false bottles, and where those bottles may have been produced in China,’ said Thomas Jullien of the CIVB, which represents some 60 appellations of Bordeaux and some 8,500 producers.
Jullien said Chinese authorities had approached the CIVB for advice on counterfeit bottles. ‘They want to establish links between importers and producers because they need proof that a product is false. They appreciate our help.’
The CIVB will not release figures on numbers of counterfeit bottles, nor will it indicate which brands are being faked, though images (pictured) obtained by Decanter.com show seized cases labelled ‘Forlatour’, and a Margaux ‘Grande Reserve’ called ‘Chateau French Tour’. Officials have indicated they consider these suspicious. Continue reading “decanter.com: French & Chinese join forces to fight wine fraud”
by Jane Anson in Bordeaux – One of China’s largest wine retailers has announced it will stop promoting the classified 
estates of the Medoc as their prices make them ‘too dangerous’.
Aussino Cellars, which has 200 stores in 100 cities across China, has cancelled a dinner with the Union des Grands Crus and has said it will promote the Right Bank instead of Left Bank wines.
Grace Cai of Aussino told Decanter.com, ‘The prices of the Grand Cru wines are too high because of the booming wine market in China, and it is very dangerous to keep on promoting them. Continue reading “decanter.com: Major Chinese retailer ditches Left Bank Bordeaux”
by Richard Woodard – Leading Australian wine brands including Penfolds, Rosemount and Lindemans could soon be under Chinese ownership, according to media reports.
Bloomberg said Bright Food Group – a Shanghai-based food and dairy business – was in private talks about acquiring Treasury Wine Estates, the Foster’s company which owns Penfolds, Beringer, Wolf Blass, Rosemount and other iconic brands Continue reading “decanter.com: Chinese buyer eyes Penfolds, Rosemount group”
by Decanter.com staff – For the first time, Decanter has published its entire Bordeaux 2010 coverage in Chinese on Decanter.com
Every wine presented at the En Primeur tastings in March has been translated into simple text Chinese, and is available at Decanter.com/china.
The section comprises tasting notes and scores by the Decanter team: Steven Spurrier Continue reading “Decanter.com: Decanter launches Bordeaux 2010 Chinese guide online”
by Adam Lechmere – Synthetic cork manufacturer Nomacorc is planning to start a major research programme in China.
The programme, which will be a joint operation with a Chinese academic institution, will be on the same lines as the programmes Nomacorc already runs with
University of California Davis, Geisenheim, the Wine Australian Research Institute and other bodies.
The research will aim to understand how oxygen affects the development of wine in the bottle, Malcolm Thompson, global vice president of marketing and innovation told Decanter.com.
It will be geared towards the Chinese wine market and specific to wines produced in China, he said. Continue reading “Decanter: Nomacorc plans Chinese research”
Simon Tam on TDM Talk Show – The Chinese are increasingly replacing beer with wine on their dining tables and are learning how to appreciate the taste of wine, said the head of wine for China Simon Tam at auction house Christie’s.
The current annual per capita wine consumption in China is a mere 0.35 litres, however the Chinese domestic wine market is projected to become the largest in the world in a few decades.
In anticipation of the optimistic business prediction, Christie’s appointed Tam early this year as its first ever head of wine for China to tap into the new market.
“The primary role of the head of wine is to educate and nurture Chinese Continue reading “Chinese wine market an ‘awakening giant’”
by Adam Lechmere – Moet Hennessy has signed a joint venture deal with a Chinese company to make high-end sparkling wine on the Chinese mainland.
The deal will expand the country’s wine market by educating the public and wine producers in sparkling wine, observers said.
Moet signed the deal earlier this month with state-owned agricultural company Ningxia Nongken to produce wine from a 67ha site in the northern region of Ningxia Hui.
‘This will be the first sparkling wine in China made according to traditional methods,’ a Moet spokesman said, adding that the first wines would be ready in three years.
The venture would ‘enhance the winemaking skill level in China. There will be more companies to educate the public…and develop the sparkling wine market in China,’ Rex Yeung of Hong Kong-based mainland producer Dynasty Wines told the South China Morning Post. Continue reading “Decanter: Moet Chinese wine deal will ‘educate’ public”
by Adam Lechmere - executive at Chinese petroleum giant Sinopec has been demoted after it was discovered he spent Millions on alcohol – including the finest cru classe Bordeaux.
Lu Guangyu, the general manager of operations in Guangdong for state oil giant Sinopec spent some 1.6 million yuan (US$245,000) of company money buying bottles of 1996 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild as well as an expensive Chinese liquor called Moutai. Continue reading “Decanter: Chinese executive in ‘Lafite’ scandal disciplined”
by Adam Lechmere – Christie’s new head of wine in China is aiming to introduce Chinese tasting notes to auction
catalogues as soon as possible. Simon Tam, the founder of Shanghai’s Independent Wine Centre, took up the Hong Kong-based position in February.
His brief, he says, is to bring the ancient auction house ‘closer to the Chinese community’.
One of his first moves – apart from serving vintage tea in the auction rooms – will be to begin adding original Chinese tasting notes alongside the traditional translated notes.
The main reason for this, Tam says, is that many western descriptors – such as blackberry and blackcurrant, or concepts such as ‘forest floor’ – are so uncommon in China as to be meaningless. Continue reading “Decanter: Simon Tam to introduce Chinese tasting notes for auctions”
by Richard Woodard -Chinese fine wine consumers are diversifying beyond Bordeaux and buying an ever wider range of
wines from Burgundy and the New World, local merchants say.
Berry Bros & Rudd Hong Kong managing director Nick Pegna said the company’s sales of Burgundy had trebled during the campaign for the 2009 vintage in the run-up to the Chinese New Year.
And Don St Pierre Jr, CEO of ASC Fine Wines, added that demand was rising for top wines from other regions, including Penfolds Grange, Phelps Insignia, Shafer Hillside Select and Gaja Barbaresco.
‘The range of Burgundies was broad and excluded a number of blue chips which aren’t released at this stage, namely Continue reading “Decanter: Savvy Chinese buyers looking beyond Bordeaux”
by Jane Anson in Bordeaux -Philippe Raoux, owner of Chateau d’Arsac in Margaux and wine tourism complex La Winery, has become the latest Bordeaux winemaker to sell property to a Chinese buyer. He last week completed the sale of his 20-hectare Lalande-de-Pomerol estate, Chateau Viaud, to Cofco, a company 100% owned by the Chinese government, following almost three years of negotiations.
Continue reading “Decanter: Lalande-de-Pomerol estate bought by state-owned Chinese company”
by Richard Woodard- Chateau Lafite Rothschild’s 2008 bottle is to feature the Chinese symbol for the figure eight in celebration of the First Growth’s new vineyard venture in China.
The symbol, which is considered especially lucky in China, will be on every bottle and magnum of Lafite 2008. Continue reading “Decanter: Lafite ’08 bottles to feature Chinese symbol”
