Story of Chinese Bordeaux Wine
Is a very interesting topic that how China wanted to occupy the space of best wine maker in the world or capture the biggest market for Bordeaux wine, which was China at some point. With the rise of new millionaires and strong purchasing power, Chinese people made Bordeaux wine a status symbol which also led the biggest price rise of all time during that period.
Whats is Bordeaux wine: Its a region in southwest of France, known for best grapes producing region and very fertile for that kind of crop.So any wine which is produced in Bordeaux region is called as Bordeaux wine. Area of over 120,000 hectares, making it the largest wine growing area in France.Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world.
in eighties Bordeaux wine was just a thought in China, hardly less than 10000 dollars wine was sold.Ex Pats from England and France living in Hong Kong knew about Bordeaux. Lafite Rothschild becoming the most expensive, sought after brand in the Chinese and Asian markets. Not only was the wine famous, it was also a First Growth chateaux. So drinking a bottle of 1982 Lafite Rothschild meant you were enjoying the best wine made, and if you in turn gave a bottle as a gift, hoping to curry favor, you were offering the best wine in the world to the burgeoning Chinese market in those days.
Japan had been buying Bordeaux for decades. Everyone in Bordeaux was hoping that China, with over 1 billion people would eventually follow suit.
In the year 2008 taxes on wines imported to Hong Kong were reduced to zero from 40%, so people were getting straight 40% discount on wines in China. Abolished taxes gave birth to the Bordeaux boom in China. Middleman were making lots of money by distributing wine to China.
With all these changes taking place Hong Kong and Macau became the biggest market for Bordeaux wine globally in year 2010. Few problems also started, wine producers couldnt meet the changing demand.
The thought process in China was, we have the money and the ability to buy and sell entire productions
If the wine was the product of various appellations, the wine would be sold as a generic AOC Bordeaux. For these new Chinese marketers, this was a gold mine! They could be the wine that would normally sell for 2 Euros, repackage and label it under their own name and sell it for up to 10 times more money!
Chinese business people purchased vineyards with beautiful chateaux, but poor c. Several of these new buyers were obtaining land in Entre Deux Mers. The low cost of vineyard land allowed the buyers to reap a windfall by repacking their wine on an exclusive basis and sell it in China!
The uninformed Chinese customers were buying all the best names in Bordeaux, from all the weakest vintages. The quantity of wine being shipped to Bordeaux changed how the entire world market for Bordeaux wine was allocated. The top chateaux cannot make more wine. Their production is finite. So, with the demand from China for a continuing increase in their supply for the best wines, those wines had to come from someplace.
Close to 80 million bottles are currently being exported to Mainland China and Hong Kong every year.Seems Chinese really love Bordeaux
