Region Remains Popular Among Wealthy Chinese Wine Collectors#
Following a year of cooperation between the auction house Christie's and the Medoc estates, Decanter reports this week that Bordeaux has unveiled an officially approved translation of each of the 61 chateaux in the 1855 classification. Working closely with each chateau to agree upon a Chinese translation for their estate, while collecting names already chosen by other chateaux, Christie's has published a list of the new names on a poster that will be revealed during the 2012 En Primeur Week, as well as distributed to Chinese-language media and clients to ensure proper names are used for each chateau in the future. While Christie's managed to collaborate on the naming process with dozens of chateaux, three or four, including Cos d'Estournel, opted out of taking a Chinese name.
As Simon Tam, head of wine, China, for Christie's, told Decanter, the growing interest in wine among wealthy Chinese is leading auction houses and wineries to work on making wine as accessible as possible to this booming market. Said Tam, "Language is the first barrier and we are trying to break down those barriers." As for whether other auction houses will use the names created by Christie's and the Bordeaux wineries, Tam told Decanter that it's too early to tell, but added, "I would like to think that the hard work has been done, and [the list] will be adopted widely."
According to Tam, Christie's plans to produce additional translations for producers in Sauternes, Bordeaux's right bank and Burgundy.
