China

News August 25, 2012

Big Wine Trouble in Little China: Counterfeiting Ring Busted.

The news coming out of China is that the Shanghai police have arrested a wine counterfeiting gang, seizing thousands of bottles of “fake Bordeaux” in the process. The ringleader had been running the scam since 2010, using Chinese wine whilst the labeling process was being completed. Allegedly, the bottles were not direct copies but so-called “funny” bottles which use the names of famous first growth estates; however, the bottles still infringe on trademark laws. The…

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News February 17, 2012

Moët-Hennessy to Produce Red Wine in China

Bubbly-maker Moët-Hennessy has invested in a vineyard in China that will produce red wine for the Chinese market. The luxury Champagne brand has been aggressively pursuing the Chinese market in recent years, having acquired a Chinese spirits brand five years ago. Last year, Moët-Hennessy also began production of a premium sparkling wine in the province of Ningxia Hui (NB: good luck pronouncing that!). The explosive growth of middle and upper classes in Chinese society has…

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News January 18, 2012

Life Sentence for Chinese Smuggler of Bordeaux Wines

ShanghaiDaily.com has reported that a wine smuggler named Sun Xitai, has been jailed for life for illegally bringing over 70,000 bottles worth 45 million yuan (US$ 7.128 million) to China’s mainland. This has been China’s biggest wine smuggling case. Despite being previously convicted in 2002 when he was sentenced to 1 year in prison and 1 year’s reprieve in the city of Tianjin, Sun Xitai continued his smuggling

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News November 7, 2011

This Week in Wine–11.6.11

A New Harvest at Chateau Changyu. The picture to the left shows an artist’s rendering of the newly updated “Disney-esque” Chateau Changyu Baron Balboa winemaking facility, scheduled to be completed next year. The Chinese chateau now has a combined 16,666 hectares of vineyards in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Shandong,Shaanxi, Liaoning and Beijing – a quarter of the entire grape growing area in China. With dry weather, favorable soil conditions and 2,700 hours of annual sunshine, the area…

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News June 25, 2011

This Week In Wine – 6/25/11 – Chinese Wine, Perfume Shaped Bottles, and Bordeaux Crying Wolf.

    China’s wine industry topples Australia China’s wine production has now surpassed Australia’s wine industry as living standards improve in China. China’s restaurants were once dominated by beer and the local white spirit, Baijiu. But these days you are increasingly likely to see people drinking wine. More than two decades of exposure to the outside world have changed people’s tastes, and increased living standards have made wine more affordable. At the beginning of the…

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Funny, News May 28, 2011

This Week In Wine – May 28th 2011

  English sparkling wine should be called Champagne, says Camilla English sparkling wine should be called Champagne, according to the Duchess of Cornwall. The quality of English fizz is so good the drink "is champagne" the Duchess declared, echoing what many in the English wine trade believe, but showing scant regard for complex and strict European food labeling laws. The Duchess’s comments came as she and the Prince of Wales toured the Denbies Wine Estate…

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