WAITING FOR THE CHINESE E-SHOPPING LEADER ALIBABA TO OPEN THE DOORS TO ITALIAN WINE, THE OWNER JACK MA, AFTER CHATEAU DE SOURS, HAS JUST BOUGHT CHATEAU PERENNE IN BORDEAUX: 64 HECTARES FOR 16 MILLION EUROS

Waiting for Alibaba, the leading e-shopping platform in China of the tycoon Jack Ma, who was the star of the recent Vinitaly show, to open the doors to Italian wine (the Trentino brand, Mezzacorona, just broke the ice a few days ago with the first exclusive flagship store, which we wrote about here http://goo.gl/9mZJKt), the entrepreneur from Hangzhou is continuing his investment strategy in Bordeaux and following the purchase of Château de Sours, has expanded his portfolio of companies with the purchase of Château Perenne, as the British magazine "Decanter" (www.decanter.com) revealed.
Jack Ma purchased his second Château Bordeaux last May 2016 and sealed the deal at 16 million euros for 64 hectares of vines, mainly Merlot. But, it is only one of 13 properties of the Grands Crus Classés (Pape Clement, Clos Haut-Peyraguey, Fombrauge and La Tour Carnet) that Bernard Magrez has owned since 1997. In 2015 Magrez had announced his intention to sell Château Perenne (where, among others, the grapes for Gerard Depardieu’s wine Confiance come from), “to continue our strategy”, he told Decanter, “of getting away from wines at a consumer price of 8 euros or below, to focus instead on higher-quality productions”.
Renovations have already begun at Château Perenne, which is now Jack Ma’s headquarters in Bordeaux, together with Château de Sours, through which he made his latest purchase and they will continue to make business deals together. Jack Ma has also formed a partnership with several other Chinese businessmen to set up a négociant company, Cellar Privilege. Further, he is the second richest person in China (according to Forbes, his personal fortune amounts to 21.5 billion dollars, ed.).