Argentine wine: down but not out
World wine producers are crying in their cups. According to the International Organisation of Vine and Wine (OIV), world wine production fell 6 per cent in 2012, to a 37-year low. And smaller grape crops in Argentina, as well as France and Spain, are to blame.
This is bad news for Argentina, where consumers’ love affair with Malbec – at home and abroad – has put the country on the world wine map. Continue reading »
China: loving the Bordeaux
The Christmas holiday season is the perfect traditional moment to open a good bottle of Champagne, Muscat, Bordeaux or another French wine, in France and many other places.
Sales of Bordeaux, France’s most famous red wine, increased again this year – not bad given the sluggish world economy, especially in Europe. But, it is not the French, but the Chinese who are responsible for the growth. And with their appetite for the Bordeaux wine, their appetite for the Bordeaux wineries is growing too. Continue reading »
China: keen on the French vineyards
Another day, another rich Chinese buys a French vineyard? Much as they did with Chinese art, Chinese investors are convinced they are onto a good thing with French red wine: they have bought some 30 to 40 vineyards in Bordeaux in the past two years, since China became the French region’s largest export market.
But now, according to reports in the Chinese press, an unnamed Chinese industrialist has scored the biggest Bordeaux coup to date, with the Chateau Bellefont-Belcier estate in the region’s prestigious Saint Emilion wine producing area (pictured). Continue reading »
China’s rich: a bottle or the vineyard?
For the rich Chinese entrepreneur who has everything: a vineyard in Burgundy, Hunter Valley or Napa. For the rest of us? A share in a wine investment fund that can spread our risk a bit. Who wants to put all their grapes in one basket?
Chinese private equity firm Hina Group has launched the $100m Hina Vineyard Fund to raise money from rich Chinese who want a share of the mainland wine boom without having to traipse around muddy fields picking out their vines. Continue reading »
Chinese and Brazilian wine: hello UK
“Made in China” is a familiar mark on many products in the UK, but not imported wine. That is about to change, as Waitrose has announced that it will become the first British supermarket to stock Chinese and Brazilian wine later this month.
Following the successful launch of two Indian wines last year, the retailer is working its way through the Brics. Continue reading »
Dollar curbs have Argentine vintners crying in their cups
Clamping down on imports, as Argentina has done, is one way of trying to spur domestic production. But introducing regulations that then make life tough for exporters looks bizarre, if not suicidal – especially when you’re trying to grow your way out of an economic downturn.
Here is a case in point: Argentine wine has a great reputation for quality and affordability – indeed, in April wine promoters staged a major worldwide celebration of its flagship varietal Malbec. Continue reading »
Chateau Lafite: now made in China
For foreign brands looking to add a little extra oomph to sales in China, going local is nothing new. Hermes did it with their Shang Xia brand, Swiss watchmakers have put dragons and phoenixes on various designs, while even the humble Oreo has adapted to Chinese tastes.
But Chateau Lafite, the French winemaker, is taking it a step further with work getting underway on a vineyard on Chinese soil. Continue reading »
China: pop goes the Lafite
It’s not exactly the sound of a bubble bursting. But China bears looking for further indications of a weakening Chinese economy could do worse than look at the results of Sotheby’s latest fine wine auction in Hong Kong.
According to Bloomberg, Sotheby’s has failed to sell all of the wine on auction for the first time in 17 sales. The biggest loser was Château Lafite-Rothschild – the Bordeaux wine that is most coveted by China’s super-rich. Continue reading »
Russia’s latest weapon in war on alcoholism: wine
Russians still scoff at Mikhail Gorbachev’s anti-alcohol campaign that saw Soviet troops tearing down vineyards – but which only drove hardened drinkers’ determination to concoct their own booze.
A quarter of a century later the Kremlin is considering subtler, market-oriented methods to fight alcoholism that could give a boost to the domestic wine industry even if they fail to modify Russians’ excessive drinking habits. Continue reading »
Argentine wine goes kosher
Argentina, with the largest Jewish community in Latin America, already boasts kosher ice cream parlours, supermarkets and restaurants. Now the world’s No. 5 wine producer is launching an exclusive kosher wine club being billed as the first of its kind in the world. Continue reading »
| About this blog | Headlines email | Blog guide |
| Regulars | Series | Archive |
Stefan Wagstyl
Rob Minto
Pan Kwan Yuk
Jonathan Wheatley
Heba Saleh