Merde! Chinese Wines Did What to French Wines?
Thursday, December 15, 2011 at 3:08PM In France, the litany of job reductions continues. Today, Air France added 2,000 jobs to be eliminated to the 4,000 it had already announced. Late October, automaker PSA Peugeot Citroën announced 4,000 layoffs. Banks—Crédit Agricole, BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Foncier—chimed in with their own job reductions. Then there were Areva, the largely government-owned nuclear-power conglomerate, drug maker Sanofi, ferry operator Seafrance (in liquidation), and newspapers—Les Échos, Parisien-Aujourhui, France-Soir, and Comareq (in liquidation). It’s tough out there. And now, France’s heavily subsidized signature industry—wines—got slapped in the face. By China.
In a blind winetasting competition in Beijing on December 14, five wines from Bordeaux and five wines from Ningxia—all priced between 200 and 500 yuan—were wrapped in black cloth, tagged with a number, and served to ten French and ten Chinese wine judges. The judges spent 40 minutes tasting and ranking the wines and another 30 minutes discussing them. Then the results were announced: the top four wines were Chinese!
- Grace Vineyard Chairman’s Reserve 2009
- Silver Heights The Summit 2009
- Helan Qing Xue Jia Bei Lan Cabernet Dry Red 2009
- Grace Vineyard Deep Blue 2009
- Barons de Rothschild Collection Saga Medoc 2009
The other losers in alphabetical order: Calvet Reserve De L’Estey Medoc 2009, Cordier Prestige Rouge 2008, Kressmann Grande Réserve St-Émilion AOC 2008, Mouton Cadet Reserve Medoc 2009, and Silver Heights Family Reserve 2009.
“Sacrilège,” screamed the headline of the French business daily, La Tribune. But the top French dailies, Le Monde and Le Figaro, seemed to suppress the news, quite understandably. The people have enough to worry about.
“Yesterday’s tasting suggested Ningxia wines can hold their own against bigger Bordeaux brands,” wrote Jim Boyce, organizer of the Ningxia vs Bordeaux Challenge, and administrator of www.grapewallofchina.com/. Ningxia, an autonomous region in Northwest China, appears to be the up and coming wine-growing area.
OK, French wines have been beaten with some regularity ever since the Judgment of Paris on May 24, 1976, when, to the utter and never fully digested shock of the French wine establishment, a Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon and a Chardonnay beat their Bordeaux counterparts—and put California on the international wine map.
“We never claimed this was the Beijing version of The Judgment of Paris,” Boyce said modestly. The tasting wasn’t designed to compare the best of Bordeaux to the best of Ningxia, but, as Boyce writes in his follow-up post on the tasting:
“We used a price range to compare top Ningxia wines with bigger and better-known Bordeaux brands sold here by major distributors—brands consumers are more likely to know and have access to.”
Of course, wine competitions can be criticized. The French wines were handicapped by an import tax of 48% (another detail of why China has a huge trade surplus with the rest of the world). But then, Chinese wines got hit with consumption and value-added taxes that reduced the gap to 20%, according to Boyce. And the most expensive Bordeaux retailed for rmb350 while the winning Ningxia retailed for rmb488. Quite a price difference.
And as anyone knows who has been buying French wines, there is a lot of mediocre stuff out there, and some of that stuff has a big price tag overseas where brand, region, and the word "France" might be major selling points, rather than quality. So the competition didn't compare Chinese wines to a Grand Cru Bordeaux that costs a bunch in France and several times that much in China. The wines chosen were those available to Chinese consumers. And the competition tried to answer the question: Can a Chinese consumer buy a Chinese wine that is as good or better than the similarly-priced French stuff at the supermarket?
But who could have imagined a few years ago spending $77 on a bottle of good Chinese wine to be shared over a romantic dinner? The French must have had similar thoughts about California wines in the aftermath of May 24, 1976. Yet, wine-making isn't rocket science. It's a craft, and it can be learned. It also benefits from a broad range of climate and soil conditions. There are excellent wines being made all over the world, including Africa. So why not China? And in France, part of the subsidized wine (over-)production is turned into even more subsidized ethanol.
It’s politically convenient to blame China for the huge US trade deficit. But the driver is a broad strategy by US corporations. And now a trade war has broken out... The Trade Debacle With China.
Reader Comments (9)
They picked wines that were available in mass-market distribution channels in China. So yes, it wasn't the best stuff France has to offer. But I believe the competition answered the question if a Chinese consumer could buy a Chinese wine that's as good or better than the similarly-priced French stuff at the supermarket.
Obviously, it didn't compare Chinese wines to a Grand Cru, but that kind of competition may not be far off. Give it a decade. And it would be a lot of fun to watch.
It only means that the pricing in China is a problem for the Chinese consumer to have a good quality of wine with reasonable price. That's it.
The Future of the Global Wine Industry
2012-01-14
Over the last 30 years, dramatic changes in the wine industry have occured. From being almost completely domiciled in four European countries (France, Italy, Spain, and Germany), it has spread worldwide to include the US, Australia, Argentina, New Zealand, South Africa, Chile and yes, China (7th largest producer in 2011).
What changes can we expect in the next decade? The globalization of information is leading to changes affecting all industries. These changes include consolidation, specialization, and new production methods. These changes are affecting the wine industry as described below.
. . .
Conclusions
Assuming I am right about the future, what do we think? I am excited. I see more wine flavors and lower prices. And while I am quite content with the excellent Yellowtail Reserves (Pinot Grigio, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Shiraz) at $9, I am always interested in trying something new – grapes I don’t know and blends still to be discovered.
It will be very easy to become overwhelmed by the number of brands being marketed – from Table 1, I count 340+ from just the top six wine companies. So what is one to do when visiting the drug store, supermarket, and/or liquor store to buy wine? Drug stores and supermarkets sell wines at low prices, so if you know what you want – fine! But in liquor stores or wine shops, try to find someone who is really knowledgeable and hard working (they have to be hardworking to stay ahead of the curve), and see what they come up with for you. And as I have suggested, have your own wine tastings at home.
Wine “futures” should be exciting!
Read on: http://www.morssglobalfinance.com/the-future-of-the-global-wine-industry/
Problems with Wine – Food Pairing Dinners (WFPDs)
by Elliott R. Morss
There is no point in comparing a light white with a heavy red. They are obviously different. The wines have to be similar enough to make comparisons interesting. For example, I believe interesting tastings can be made if all the wines are in one of four groups: Light Whites, Light Reds, Heavy Whites, or Heavy Reds.
Consider heavy reds as an example: Shirazes/Syrahs from Australia, California, Argentina and the Côtes du Rhône make for some interesting comparisons. Another interesting comparison – try the same grape at different price points. I recently did a wine tasting of Malbecs at prices ranging from $9 to $50. Three of the eight blind tasters preferred the $9 bottle. Interesting! Another heavy red comparison worth trying: Cabernet Sauvignon vs. Shiraz vs. Malbec vs. Merlot at the same price. See what people like and whether they can tell the difference.
http://www.morssglobalfinance.com/problems-with-wine-food-paring-dinners-wfpds/