Chinese Wine

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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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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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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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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