The Chinese Love Affair with Bordeaux
While naysayers like Gary Vaynerchuk are telling people to stay away from Bordeaux because it is overpriced, the Chinese are embracing and even accelerating their purchases. From the article:
The 10-hour sale yesterday of more than 800 lots tallied HK$52.9 million, beating host Sotheby's own forecast of HK$40 million. Bidders at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel drank glasses of Louis Roederer Blanc de Blanc 2003 and Haut Brion 1998 as they competed with online bidders for choice items, such as twin 1.5- liter bottles of Chateau Petrus 1982 that fetched HK$435,600, against the lot's top estimate of HK$130,000. Estimates don't include commission.
If you visit the websites of the top Chateaux in Bordeaux almost all of them have Chinese versions of their pages and many offer tours in China.
I have heard the argument that the Chinese only buy older Bordeaux, they won't embrace the En Primeurs system and the futures market, which is what people like Vaynerchuk are recommending US wine buyers avoid. That doesn't appear to be true, there are going to be many wine buyers from China at En Primeurs this year.
Top Bordeaux are always going to be a scarce product (as they should be), if the Chinese eat into that limited quantity in significant amounts that will make it more expensive to buy top Bordeaux in the US.
The 10-hour sale yesterday of more than 800 lots tallied HK$52.9 million, beating host Sotheby's own forecast of HK$40 million. Bidders at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel drank glasses of Louis Roederer Blanc de Blanc 2003 and Haut Brion 1998 as they competed with online bidders for choice items, such as twin 1.5- liter bottles of Chateau Petrus 1982 that fetched HK$435,600, against the lot's top estimate of HK$130,000. Estimates don't include commission.
If you visit the websites of the top Chateaux in Bordeaux almost all of them have Chinese versions of their pages and many offer tours in China.
I have heard the argument that the Chinese only buy older Bordeaux, they won't embrace the En Primeurs system and the futures market, which is what people like Vaynerchuk are recommending US wine buyers avoid. That doesn't appear to be true, there are going to be many wine buyers from China at En Primeurs this year.
Top Bordeaux are always going to be a scarce product (as they should be), if the Chinese eat into that limited quantity in significant amounts that will make it more expensive to buy top Bordeaux in the US.
posted by allan at 2:45 PM
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