News on China

Australia targets China's new 'wine class'

2010-07-24T22:15:24Z

Eyeing up a highly lucrative new market, Australia's Barossa Valley this week played host to 600 young "wine ambassadors" emblematic of China's booming middle class. Employees of global beverages giant Pernod Ricard, the group were brought to Australia for a crash course in a...

Chinese demand sends top Bordeaux prices sky-high

2010-07-15T09:30:09Z

BORDEAUX, France (Reuters Life!) - Prices for Bordeaux 2009 vintage wine that has not yet even been bottled look set to top those from the last classic year of 2005 thanks to demand from wealthy Chinese buyers and speculators. Prices straight from the producer have already reached 1,000 euros ($1,282) per bottle for exceptionally fine wines, according to the Bordeaux Wine and Spi...

China's first micro-winery wins plaudits

2010-07-15T09:16:43Z

In a country where the wine industry is dominated by mass-production vineyards producing mediocre wine, the Silver Heights winery perched at 1,200 metres (about 4,000 feet) is creating a buzz. Located on the eastern slopes of Mount Helan in the northern Ningxia region, China's first garage wine, or micro-winery, has won applause from wine lovers and support ...

Wine woos China's chic

2010-07-13T21:15:45Z

China is mad for wine. At the Haagen Dazs cafe in the trendy Xintiandi district, well-heeled Shanghai urbanites decide between Rum Raisin and Cookies 'n Cream to go with their Chilean Late Harvest Sauvignon Blanc. While a wine glass might not grace every dining table in China, wine has become a symbol of a desirable urban lifestyle, equal parts sophistication and quirky enthusiasm. Most wine drinker...

European producers push for fine wines in China

2010-07-13T00:16:38Z

Wine-loving China, the world's fifth-biggest consumer, is not known for making top-quality wine but its potential is drawing elite vintners like Spain's Torres and France's Lafite. "We are looking to make the best wine possible, but not necessarily the best wine in the world," said Gerard Colin, managing di...

NZ wine industry targets China for growth

2010-07-02T00:00:06Z

WELLINGTON (Reuters Life!) - New Zealand wine makers are racing against rivals to stake a spot in what is set to be the world's fastest growing market - China. The Chinese market for grape-based wines is currently small but expected to grow rapidly, fueled by the fast-growing middle-class and younger generations who are increasi...

Vinexpo Asia: China drives world wine market

2010-05-25T02:17:02Z

The fourth Asian Vinexpo featuring 840 exhibitors from 32 countries opened Tuesday in Hong Kong as the global economic crisis pushed exporters to focus on the world's most promising market: China. "A little like 2009 vintage Bordeaux, this Vinexpo is exceptional. There are more exhibitors and we expect more than 10,000 professionals, including a large number from China," said chief executive Rober...

Fraud alert over Bordeaux wine futures

2010-04-27T10:16:36Z

Concerns are growing in some wine industry circles that a few rogue Chinese wine traders may be mounting a wine scam, just as the 2009 Bordeaux futures sales are poised to begin, experts fear. Fine wine merchant Bordeaux Index alleged that unscrupulous traders in Shanghai had hoodwinked private customers into ordering and paying for the 2009 vintage of legendary wines. Among the top wine names concerned were Chateau Lafite and its popular s...

Chinese wines compete in French challenge

2010-04-18T17:15:55Z

More than 4,000 wines from around the world vied for medals in France's biggest wine competition this weekend, with China competing for the first time. More than 700 tasters, a mix of winegrowers, technicians, merchants and trained amateurs, converged on the sleepy village of Bourg, near Bordeaux, where they judged 4,435 wines from 33 countries in two days of blind tastings. Chinese wine makers entered ...

Women impact Asian tipplers

2010-04-03T23:15:34Z

Asian women are having a profound impact on the evolution of the world's fastest growing wine culture, including the emerging Asian palate. "The American or European palate is better understood, especially with respect to wine," said Jeannie Cho Lee. A popular Hong Kong-based wine critic, she is the first ethnic Asian to earn the notoriously difficult title of Master of Wine. "We don't...

Bordeaux uncorks blockbuster vintage, eyes China

2010-03-31T04:16:02Z

French vineyards launch the annual Bordeaux wine futures market this week, boasting a blockbuster vintage they hope will revive their flagging fortunes and lure wealthy Chinese buyers. More than 6,000 wine professionals have descended upon the Bordeaux region, many of them from the cash-strapped Western economies that were forced to slash back imports of fine wines in 2009. Traditional markets in the United States, Hong Kong has emerged as the fastest growing wine hub while China's seemingly unquenchable thirst for wine has ousted the United States as Bordeaux's number one client outside Europe. "Bordeaux holds a special place in China," said Don St. Pierre Jr., chief executive at ASC Greater China, the larg...

China ousts US as Bordeaux's top client outside Europe

2010-03-12T12:16:03Z

China's seemingly unquenchable thirst for wine has ousted America as Bordeaux's number one client outside Europe, latest figures showed Friday. With overall exports down a large 23 percent in 2009, vintners are now looking to the East to drain their cellars. "China has become our first client outside the European Union," said Reuters) - China has become the biggest export market for Bordeaux wines outside the European Union as overall exports have collapsed due to the economic crisis and a strong euro put some wines beyond U.S. and British buyers. The sector has high hopes of the 2009 harvest with young wines being presented to the inter...

Counterfeiters target luxury wines

2010-04-16T09:04:24Z

Petrus, Romanee-Conti, Chateau d'Yquem -- wines coveted by connoisseurs, and targeted by counterfeiters. According to French wine professionals, a handful of rare and fine wines face the same threat from fraud as luxury handbags and designer sunglasses. Trafficking in fake wine has "always existed a little, but it's definitely amplified with the rising prices of fine wines", said Sylvain Boivert, director of the association re...

After luxury bags, counterfeit luxury wines

2010-04-16T09:04:26Z

Vintners approach fickle Chinese market with caution

2010-04-16T09:15:43Z

Chinese wine imports have soared more than ten-fold in the past few years but foreign producers hoping to cash in on the boom are warning the market is fickle and not for the faint of heart. China is on track to import 10 million cases of wine this year, up from 840,000 in 2004, according to the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). Asian ...

Hong Kong overtakes NY, London in wine auctions

2010-04-16T09:58:05Z

Hong Kong has overtaken New York and London as the largest wine market for two of world's biggest auction houses, the firms said Tuesday, highlighting a trend spurred by surging demand from China. Sotheby's sai...

French wine courts India and China

2010-07-21T14:08:52Z

BORDEAUX (Reuters Life!) - Caught napping by a consumer crisis after a series of record years, the French wine trade is lusting after the potentially huge markets of China and India as an outlet for Old World wine sales. But this may not prevent a restructuring of the cozy grand family-oriented traditional wine industry with its myriad of c...

China wine-lovers go for French reds

2010-04-16T11:41:10Z

Much to the glee of French winemakers, China confirmed its passion for red wine within the first 24 hours of the opening of the world's largest wine exhibition here, Vinexpo. Barely had the first visitors hit the stands when Hong Kong luxury goods company A&amp;A International announced its acquisition of an historic wine estate near Bordeaux, Chateau Richelieu, a 17-hectare property surro...

Wine producers pin hopes on China in tough times

2010-04-16T15:36:52Z

Wine producers are pinning their hopes for growth during the financial crisis on a country that only recently entered the ranks of the world's top ten wine drinking countries -- China. Wine bars and speciality wine stores have flourished in Shanghai, which prides itself of being the nation's most cosmopolitan city, and have quickly become part of the landscape. "More and more people are coming throu...

Famed French vintners plan China vineyard

2010-04-16T15:55:48Z

One of the great names in wine-making, Domaines Barons de Rothschild, said Sunday it plans to develop a vineyard in China to take advantage of growing interest in wine here. The owners of the famed Chateau Lafite wine brand will plant the vineyard on 25 hectares (62 acres) on a peninsula in eastern China's Shandong province, according to a statement. The joint venture vineyard will...

50 years from now ...

2010-04-16T13:27:30Z

In Woody Allen's film Sleeper, the owner of a health food store called The Happy Carrot goes into hospital for a routine ulcer operation and wakes up 200 years later after a long snooze in a tank of liquid nitrogen. A bewildered Miles Monroe finds that society has changed considerably while he's been asleep, not least in its attitude to health. Contrary to what people thought in ...

China's largest wine company to relocate to HK

2010-04-16T16:27:33Z

China's largest wine merchant said Thursday it will relocate its headquarters to Hong Kong to benefit from the southern Chinese city's recent waiver of a 40-percent tax on the tipple. Jointek Fine Wines, which opened its headquarters in Guangzhou in 2000 to import internationally established brands to China, said Hong Kong also had the upper han...

China Pipeline Explosion

2010-07-30T05:00:22Z

In this photo taken on Sunday, July 25, 2010, workers load the oil barrels during a clean up operation at the Nantuo Fishing Harbor after the oil spill in Dalian in northeast China's Liaoning province. An American oil spill expert says China's worst-known oil spill is far larger than the government has reported. China's government has said 1,50...

China Forbidden City

2010-07-30T03:30:17Z

In this photo taken Wednesday, July 28, 2010, Nancy Berliner, curator of Chinese art and culture at the Peabody, reacts near a restored panel at the Forbidden City in Beijing, China. A collection of thrones, large-scale paintings and decor of on...

China Military

2010-07-30T02:16:07Z

A member of the Engineering Regiment of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) makes his rescue dog jump across a platform during a demonstration for journalists at a military base, outskirts of Beijing, China Friday, July 30, 2010. China's military on Friday criticized remarks by China's Xinhua News Agency, warplanes fly during a military drill conducted by Air Force of the Guangzhou Military Area Command of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) based in Guangzhou, capital of South China's China's Xinhua News Agency taken on Wednesday, July 28, 2010, a Chinese soldier jumps through a fire obstacle during psychological training at an army training field before the upcoming 83rd anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army, which will be celebrated on Aug....