by Giles Cadman
China’s massive market for wine means that many foreign companies are growing grapes and making wine in China, as well as exporting to the Chinese market.
In a few remote corners of China, two of France’s top wine makers have more on their minds than a trade row with their most promising export market.
In three far-flung provinces, a world away from Beijing’s allegations of European wine dumping, makers of such lofty French brands as Château Lafite-Rothschild and Dom Pérignon champagne are investing millions of dollars to produce vintages they hope will put Chinese wine on the world map.
This may be hyperbole, but there may be the potential to produce some exceptionally good wine in China.
In a country where cheap plonk and overpriced mediocre wines still define the domestic industry, the French are partnering with Chinese investors to produce super-premium wines for increasingly discerning drinkers at the market’s top end.
They will likely charge hundreds of dollars per bottle when the wines start appearing in a year or two, turning out deeply rich reds and elegant sparkling wines for wealthy Chinese drinkers who they hope will be proud to serve local vintages that are the equal of their imported collections.
“China deserves the production of great wines,” said Christophe Salin, president of Domaines Barons de Rothschild (DBR), which owns the vaunted Château Lafite, Ch. Duhart-Milon and Ch. L’Évangile, among other French labels. “Without wanting to copy Lafite, we wish to produce a great wine on Chinese soil,” he added in an interview.
