Buying Petrus at Tian Di Yi Jia
This article discusses the increasing popularity of wine among affluent Chinese people. It’s an interesting article, although I would have liked to have seen more detail in certain areas (such as the names of a few popular American wines).
I mention the article here only in passing, but also because I think a lot of the highly allocated US wines might start turning up in China someday. I noticed that Wine-Searcher.com lists a Hong Kong merchant with some Sea Smoke for sale. Very interesting. The import duties would probably tack on so much cost that it makes US wines nearly prohibitive to purchase. But, that may change at some point if the government likes American wine enough.
I find it interesting that a bottle of 1994 Petrus costs $2,154. That’s not too bad for a restaurant price for Petrus, honestly. I’m assuming some businessman will expense it, much like the Barclays Capital guys who had a $66K bar bill. Now that’s how I want to get fired someday. In my estimation, if that bar tab helped those guys win millions of dollars in business, I think they should have kept their jobs. But I’m a forgiving boss.