WINE & THE FAR EAST: SOME INVEST IN “DO-IT-YOURSELF”, SOME BUY PREMIUM VINEYARDS. THAILAND IMPORTS INTERNATIONAL “KNOW HOW” TO PRODUCE QUALITY WINES AND CHINA BUYS NOT JUST BOTTLES, BUT ENTIRE WINERIES

The Far East seems to be the road to the future for the major wine producers (and it is already the main market for the big wine auctions): France and Italy are first, since they thrive mainly on exports. Today this road may seem very wide but it will probably narrow down gradually because Far Eastern countries are getting more and more equipped to handle “do-it-yourself” production, even for quality wines.

For example, some have invested in their own territory, like Mr. “Red Bull”, Chaleo Yoovidhya, the richest man in Thailand. In one of his estates, the MonSoon Valley (that is part of Siam Winery and Mont Clair in South Africa, Peter Vella in California, Kookaburra’s in Australia, Chateau Vendome in Languedoc and Armand de Brignac in Champagne, France), 240 hectares of vineyards south of Bangkok, he hired a team of agronomists to “import” land management techniques to better produce wine from Colombard and Shiraz grapes that come from Australia and France. “It is an ideal location,” the winemaker Chaorai Kanchanomai explains, “because even if it is a tropical zone, the micro-climate is a bit colder than central Thailand, and there’s not as much rain with the monsoons”.

This situation gives two harvests per year and produces 250.000 bottles. It is certainly an “unusual” experience in a country that does not promise big numbers, but what is happening in China, instead, calls for more attention and reflection. China is recognized as a new “Eldorado” for luxury bottles as well as producing over 90% of the wine (low quality) for domestic consumption. They are also “buying” the most prestigious vineyards and estates around the world: COFCO, one of the top wine & food groups in China, controlled by the government in Beijing, has bought 20 hectares of Chateau de Viaud, Lalande-de-Grand Cru Pomerol, for 10 million euros. And in the meantime, after opening the French wine school in Beijing, the French “Négociants” opened a cultural center on wine in Tianjin, the fourth largest city in China.