Chinese jewelry group picks Bordeaux vineyard gem
The Chinese jewelry group Tesiro has bought a French family-owned wine chateau in the world-renowned Bordeaux region. Industry officials told AFP that group managing director Shen Dongjun signed the final purchase agreement late Monday with the Ducos family, owners of the Chateau Laulan Ducos since 1911, according to the regional wine-growers’ association.
The 41-year-old executive is a wine lover and keen to develop a market in his homeland for the chateau’s 150,000-bottle annual output, which is sold under the Medoc appellation, Tesiro buy-out manager Linjun Zhou told AFP.
The former joint owner of the estate, 34-year-old Frederic Ducos, will stay on to work for the Chinese firm as a director and quality controller. “The group sees this as a choice of quality. We’re embarking on a course of bringing the wine up a level,” he told AFP.
I suppose it’ll just be a matter of time before wine connoissuers will quote “Ah yes, 2012, A very good year for a Chinese Bordeax!”