Risky business | DBR Lafite doubles down in Shandong
It’s tough to be number one. As the most famous foreign wine brand in China, Lafite has instant name recognition and an eager consumer base …
Flat as a pie | What a China pizza fest says about Italy’s wine performance
Oh, Italy. Your reputation for luxury brands and sports, notably football, is strong here in China. You are a major tourist draw. Your culture and …
Pontyfications | Bordeaux’s China exodus, ‘passionate’ distributors & new niches
Helene Ponty has partnered with distributors in fifty-plus cities in China to sell her family’s Bordeaux wine. She’s everywhere from “tier one” metropolises like Beijing and …
Taste | Lucashof wine from Pfalz
I don’t join many wine dinners because you always hope to show up at 7 PM and leave at 9 PM but end up returning …
Festival mode | Zhang Dongli brings Bordeaux’s Fete Le Vin to Beijing
As a veteran in tourism and event planning, Zhang Dongli has a long history of pairing France and China. Zhang’s most recent project, Bordeaux Fete …
Quotable Bettane | Blends and civilization, MWs as bad tasters & under-wined oak
Veteran French critic Michel Bettane visited Beijing two weeks ago and I joined his Chinese wine tasting. I’m interested in voices such as Bettane’s because …
China’s first million-point wine | Power tasting at DFC & Canaan
Fate has delivered me unto the land of Canaan thrice in two months. This winery, founded in 2006, and its sibling Domaine Franco-Chinois, founded in …
China wine stats | ‘If Penfolds were a country, where would it rank?’
China wine veteran The Cellar Rat posed an intriguing query recently as I wrote up some China wine import stats. “If Penfolds were a country, …
Revive la France! New vigor in fight for China market share
It’s been a Franco-centric month as I looked at French initiatives that provide new vigor in a country where it has lost share. I went …
Ganbei! Trade goes wild for Xi, Macron drinking wine in Shanghai
Trade people are going wild on WeChat over pics of Chinese president Xi Jinping and French president Emmanul Macron enjoying wine at the China International …