The top French diplomat in Hong Kong and Macau was suspended and recalled to Paris last week for stealing two expensive bottles of wine, a source familiar with the matter told AFP on Tuesday.
Marc Fonbaustier, 46, France's consul-general in the Chinese semi-autonomous territories, was forced to leave his job after Beijing sought his removal, just over a year after taking the top-ranking post, the source said.
Police and the French consulate in Hong Kong both declined comment Tuesday. "We stand by the statement of the spokesman for the foreign ministry last week," a consulate spokeswoman told AFP.
On Thursday, the foreign ministry said an "administrative investigation" had begun, adding that Fonbaustier's unspecified actions would "likely not meet the requirements of professional conduct for a French diplomat."
"He is suspended from duty," ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
"An administrative investigation has been started based on the circumstances behind the decision.
"These facts would likely not meet the requirements of professional conduct for a French diplomat," the spokesman added.
Fonbaustier, who is married with three children, is an alumnus of the Ecole Nationale d'Administration, France's top school for civil servants. He is a former second counsellor at the French embassy in New Delhi.
France's top HK diplomat 'recalled for stealing wine'
Krug Pops, Art Records Fall as Chinese Lift $76 Million Auction
“I’m only really drinking this for promotional purposes you understand,” said David Elswood, Christie’s International’s international head of wine, as he sipped a glass of Krug before accepting bids for a package of 144 bottles from the Champagne maker.
Krug representatives poured magnums of the company’s Grande Cuvee and served dim sum and Danish pastries to bidders scattered around 10 tables at the start of a weekend that also offered contemporary art in Hong Kong. Chinese-led bidding pushed the total for the three days to HK592.7 million ($76.3 million) as 15 artist records were set.
The Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre sale is part of a weeklong event covering wine, contemporary art, traditional Chinese paintings, watches, jewelry and antiques. Together with Sotheby’s autumn sale in October, they indicate the strength of demand for luxury items in Asia.
On Saturday morning, two phone bidders pushed the price of the Krug cases to HK$1.2 million including a first-class trip for two to Krug’s famous cellars in France.
London-based Christie’s sold HK$80.3 million of wine over two days, with a collection of 43 bottles of Chateau Mouton- Rothschild also reaching HK$1.2 million. By bottle, the highest price was a half case of 1978 Echezeaux Burgundy for the equivalent of HK$124,000 a bottle. A case of 1990 La Tache from nearby Domaine de la Romanee-Conti fetched HK$78,000 a bottle.
Star Items
With the Champagne and tables cleared away, Christies began its three-day offering of contemporary and 20th century Asian art, with most of the star items at the Nov. 27 evening sale.
Around packed rows of white seats, ushers gave up trying to keep aisles clear of standing observers that spilled six deep outside the entrances, while 48 Christie’s staff aided telephone bidders. Two of those phone bidders outlasted the sea of dark suits and black dresses in the room to lift Sanyu’s “Potted Chrysanthemum in a Blue and White Jardiniere” to an artist record HK$53.3 million.
The Chinese-born artist, who was reputedly more interested in Parisian nightlife than selling his works during his life, was the high point of the 44-lot evening. By contrast, the other lot with a HK$35 million presale estimate, Cai Guo Qiang’s 32- meter wide “Search for Extraterrestrials” in Chinese ink, smoke and gunpowder on paper, failed to sell after hammering down at HK$30 million, below the reserve price.
Estimates Beaten
The two lots set the tone for the day sale yesterday, with works by artists such as Liu Dahong soaring past their estimates, while buyers were lukewarm on lesser works by established stars like Yue Minjun. Liu’s “The Meeting Hall,” one of the first lots of the afternoon session, set a record for the artist of HK$2.8 million, more than 10 times its estimate.
Zeng Fanzhi’s “A Man in Melancholy,” Sunday’s top lot, sold for HK$10.3million, more than six times its estimate, while Zao Wou-Ki, star of the spring sales this year, remained popular with all nine of his works on offer beating their high estimates.
Yesterday’s 8 1/2-hour sale of more than 400 lots brought the total for the Asian contemporary and 20th century Chinese art to HK$512.4 million, 32 percent higher than a year ago.
Seven artist records fell in the Nov. 27 evening session, with Asian buyers or dealers taking 9 of the top 10 lots. Another eight records fell in the day sale.
Sotheby’s October sale in Hong Kong totaled HK$3.09 billion, more than 50 percent higher than its previous record in the city of HK$2 billion set in April.
Christie’s sale prices on art include a commission of 25 percent on the first HK$400,000, 20 percent up to and including HK$8 million, and 12 percent of the remainder, paid by the buyer. Estimates are for the hammer price, which doesn’t include the commission. For wine, the commission is a flat 20 percent.
Today, Christie’s continues with Southeast Asian contemporary art and jewels.
Hong Kong $230,000 Bid Overtakes London-New York Wine Auctions
He Wei Qi, a businessman from eastern China’s Zhejiang province, says he routinely pays more than 30,000 yuan ($4,500) for a bottle of wine to entertain guests.
“A price tag of more than a million yuan a bottle -- that does more than show off your wealth, it shows you have good taste,” He, 38, said while attending a three-day Hong Kong wine and spirits exhibition that drew about 700 companies from 29 countries and regions. “We don’t care how outrageously expensive the wines are.”
Wine sales in the city by Sotheby’s and Christie’s International will raise more than in New York and London combined this year, the top two auction houses said, with vintage Chateau Lafite selling in excess of $200,000 a bottle. Sales at Hong Kong’s auctions have more than quadrupled since the city cut duties to zero two years ago.
“What we’ve seen emerging in the last year are people paying virtually any price for wine,” said David Elswood, Christie’s London-based head of wine. “That’s not investment. That is just uncontrolled spending.”
Buyers from China, where the number of billionaires rose more than 60 percent from last year, may double auction sales in Hong Kong next year, he said.
“Red wine is better than stocks,” wine merchant Alex Yu said while touting a HK$80,000 ($10,321) 5-litre bottle of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. “Chinese wine lovers are pushing up prices.”
Vintage Lafite
Three bottles of Chateau Lafite’s 1869 vintage sold for a record $230,000 each on Oct. 29, 28 times Sotheby’s top estimate before the auction.
Chinese collectors in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan hold about one in four bottles of fine or rare vintage wine globally, according to Crown Wine Cellars, which stores about HK$1 billion of wine in a network of converted ammunition bunkers in Hong Kong. Total consumption has doubled in China in the past five years, with red wine accounting for 75 percent of demand, according to a March report by Citigroup Inc.
Wine isn’t the only product Chinese buyers are mopping up. The fastest growth of any major economy and an appreciating currency have led them to pick up properties in London and artwork in New York. In Hong Kong, mainland Chinese demand drove luxury property prices past the 1997 peak, spurring the government to warn of an asset bubble.
1,400 Percent Markup
Asia’s wine market will expand four times faster than the rest of the world, said Robert Beynat, chief executive of wine exhibition organizer Vinexpo Asia Pacific. Much of the growth will come from China, which is the final destination of a “large part” of the wine imported into Hong Kong, he said.
Liu Xue Biao, a wine merchant from Shenzhen, said that wine he buys in Hong Kong for about $3 a bottle can be sold in mainland China for 300 yuan, a 1,400 percent markup. “They are willing to pay just about any price,” said Liu, accompanied by two female assistants carrying suitcases for their purchases.
Imports by Hong Kong merchants jumped to $600 million in the first nine months, more than the whole of last year. The value of auctions reached $120 million this year, almost double the $64 million in 2009, according to the government.
Sotheby’s had to issue tickets for the first time for its Oct. 29 wine auction at the Mandarin Oriental, when it offered almost 2,000 bottles of Lafite shipped directly from the Bordeaux chateau’s cellars.
No Catching Up
The sale beat the auction record for a single bottle set in 1985 in London, when publisher Malcolm Forbes paid 105,000 pounds ($169,000) for a 1787 vintage.
“New York and London aren’t going to catch up,” said Robert Sleigh, who moved to Hong Kong from New York in August to run Sotheby’s Asia wine business. “People like the fact that the wine is here in Hong Kong. You just go and pick it up.”
Sotheby’s next wine auctions in Hong Kong will take place in January, where it will put on sale the Bordeaux Winebank Collection. The highlights include bottles of Chateau Petrus 2000 and Chateau Lafite Rothschild 2000.
Sotheby’s sold $52 million of wine in eight auctions this year in Hong Kong compared with a combined $24 million so far in New York and London, previously the world’s biggest- and second- largest markets. The New York-based company had 11 consecutive sold-out wine auctions in the Chinese city.
The Hong Kong sales are an indication of how far mainland Chinese buyers have come since the 1990s, when they would drink Coca-Cola with wine and merchants hawked unwanted vintages to them, said Gregory De’Eb, general manager of Crown Wine Cellars.
“Through their own aggressive tasting, they have built a better knowledge of what suits their palettes,” De’Eb said.
‘Inflating a Bubble’
While the Chinese are the ninth-largest consumers of wine globally, the spirit accounts for only 2 percent of alcohol drunk in the country, according to Citigroup analysts.
That’s changing as wine starts to win favor compared with the traditional Baijiu and Maotai liquor. In 2008, Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) agreed to develop more than 25 hectares of vines in Shandong province with Citic Group, China’s biggest state-owned investment company.
The burgeoning wealth is “inflating a bubble” in wine, said Christie’s Elswood. “When you’re paying four, five times or even more than the reference price then you have to seriously question the market knowledge of that buyer.”
At Sotheby’s April 3 auction in Hong Kong, a 12-bottle lot of Chateau Latour 1982 fetched HK$338,800 or $43,649. About two weeks later, New York-based Tribeca Wine Merchants Ltd. ran a newspaper advertisement offering the same for $2,250 a bottle.
“Westerners drink wine slowly as a way of enjoying life,” said He, strolling around the Hong Kong exhibition holding a glass of wine. “Just look around you. Mainland Chinese tilt the glass and pour it straight down the throat.”
New South Wales Exhibits at the Hong Kong International Wine Fair 2010
Australia's premier winegrowing and winemaking state, New South Wales, returned today for its second consecutive exhibition at Asia's largest fine wine trade fair, the Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair.
NSW was the most awarded state from the largest exhibiting country, Australia, at the 2009 Fair, winning 13 medals in the Fair's International Wine and Spirit Competition (inclusive of the first place Trophy for Best Cabernet Sauvignon). Eric Roozendaal, NSW Government Treasurer and Minister for State and Regional Development said, "New South Wales' outstanding performance in the 2009 Hong Kong International Wine Competition demonstrated not only the quality but the suitability of NSW wine in the mainland China-Hong Kong market. The government wishes this year's entrants good luck in the competition, and in introducing even more Asian wine lovers to our fantastic NSW wines."
Representing NSW at this year's Fair are ten of the State's most awarded and unique wineries: Ascella Pure Wines (Hunter Valley), Audrey Wilkinson Vineyard (Hunter Valley), Belgravia Wines (Orange Region), Brokenwood Wines (Hunter Valley), Calais Estate Wines (Hunter Valley), Chalkers Crossing (Hilltops Region), Mayfield Vineyard (Orange Region), Mudgee Wines (Mudgee Region), Printhie (Orange Region), and Ross Hill Wines (Orange Region). Amongst this all-star delegation are James Halliday 5-Star rated wineries, national trophy winners and iconic Australian producer-exporters.
The NSW Government has provided energetic export development support to the state's wineries through Industry & Investment NSW's "Wine to China" strategy. The strategy, initiated in 2009 and building on significant foundations already established in Asia, includes two annual wine-industry trade missions. When combined with NSW's permanent trade development offices in Shanghai and Guangzhou, the "Wine to China" strategy reinforces a continued presence in the marketplace for excellent NSW wine producers.
At this year's Hong Kong wine fair, a large number of pre-qualified buyers will be meeting NSW wineries at the Fair's Australian Pavilion. These trade buyers, from Beijing, Xian, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan, Kunming, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Taiwan, Macau, Seoul and beyond, will be given unparalleled opportunities to meet, in most cases, the principals and winemakers of the exhibiting wineries.
Sotheby's sales reinforce Hong Kong's position as fine wine hub
The fine wine auction boom in Asia has hit a new high after two Sotheby’s sales at the weekend raised more than HK$100m (US$13m).
The two auctions – including the cellar of collector Marcus D Hiles and the sixth instalment of the cellar of an unnamed ‘Great American collector’ – sold out in their entirety.
That means that nine consecutive Sotheby’s Hong Kong fine wine auctions have been 100% sold in the last 18 months, with the vast majority of items in the last two sales exceeding their high estimates.
‘Prices during the last two days of sales were exceptionally buoyant, linked to the stupendous quality and condition of these two great private collections,’ said Serena Sutcliffe MW, Sotheby’s worldwide head of wine.
‘Pétrus today was on fire! All the First Growths, in all vintages, fetched astonishing prices, with the saleroom and the telephones going into battle for the amazing large formats.’
The sixth part of The Classic Cellar from A Great American Collector raised HK$57.3m, taking the cumulative total fetched by the collection to HK$266m.
Pétrus led the charge at the weekend sale, accounting for the eight most expensive lots, led by three double magnums of 1989 at HK$726,000, nearly double their high estimate.
Top-end Burgundy led the highlights from the Hiles cellar, with a case of 2005 Romanée-Conti 2005 fetching the highest price of HK$1.8m, 50% above its high estimate.
Other DRC wines, including older vintages of Romanée-Conti and La Tâche 1999 and 2005, made up the remainder of the top ten.
Next on the Sotheby’s Hong Kong calendar is a sale of Lafite vintages from 1869 to 2009 direct from the château on 29 October, followed by another Bordeaux sale from SK Networks on 30 October.
Source: Decanter.com
The Evolution Of the California Wine Industry
The association of the California style of wine with deep flavors, forward fruits, high alcohol and a hint of oak, is a thing of the past. However, its a common belief that America witnessed an increase in the revenue of the wine industry, in recent times. The U.S. and Canada were previously accused of favoring beer and spirits over wine, till the magical effects of wine were discovered by the present generation. The burgeoning California wine industry has an origin, prior to the Prohibition in the 1920s. Over 140 wineries had sprouted all over the Napa Valley alone, in 1889.
The Spanish government banned wine grape cultivation in Mexico after the wine industry started competing with Spanish imports, in the late 16th century. The effects of the prohibition were evident in Mexico till the 20th century. The California missions, throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, needed wine on a regular basis. Fr. Junipero Serra at the Mission San Diego de Alcala planted the first vineyard of California in 1769. Fr. Serra brought the Mission grape to California, supposedly from cuttings brought from South America. Though, initially this grape was not considered to be ideal as a table wine, by the mid nineteenth century over 4,000 acres were cultivated around the missions.
Immediately after the Santa Cruz Mission, in 1804, vineyards were planted throughout California. Owing to the deforestation by the lumber industry, vineyards sprouted up on the Santa Cruz Mountains in the following years. Padre Jose Altimira planted several thousand grape vines at the northernmost mission, twenty years after that. Los Angeles had its first European table grape varietals plantation cultivated by Jean-Louis Vignes, in 1833. Richard Henry Dana discussed the wine of early California in his historic account of life on the California coast, in 1934. George Calvert Yount planted the first vineyard in Napa Valley, in 1836.
In the mid nineteenth century, most of the table wines consumed in California were Portuguese imports. Portuguese red wine, cooked in the sun on sailing ships and inadvertently oxidized, was made palatable by sweetening them. This led to the commercialization of Madeira wines, one of the most preferred wines in America. Till date, whenever wines take on a tinge of brown because of being old or due to poor cellaring, they are said to be maderized.
However, consumerism has played a significant role in determining the quality, quantity and even the process involved in wine making. The English designed a rating system for French wines in the eighteenth century and also created Sherry and Madeira. Consumerism steered the California wine industry and later the market determined that the wines should be a little sweet and smooth on the palate. In addition, the market demanded that the acid level should be low. Thus, owing to these requirements, the wine industry had to turn grapes used for making table wines for processing several base wines.
Unlike cheese lovers, wine lovers have better options, as they can find good wines in the supermarkets, provided they know which ones to choose. The market is the most powerful factor that determines not only which varietals will sink or swim, but also which ones will thrive.
NZ Wine sales to Hong Kong Jump
Labels: export business, New Zealand
New Zealand's wine exports to Hong Kong grew 30 per cent in the six months to June, despite the global gloom, and the region has huge potential for further growth, says a Hong Kong trade executive.
"Even last year, when everywhere was suffering from the financial crisis, New Zealand wine exports to Hong Kong rose 8 per cent amounting to US$5.4 million (NZ$7.4m)," said Benjamin Chau, deputy executive director of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.
Hong Kong could provide the springboard Kiwi winegrowers needed to significantly boost wine sales in the region, he said in Auckland last month.
Since the Hong Kong government abolished duty on wine in February 2008, its wine imports have risen 80 per cent. That figure includes a sharp rise out of New Zealand.
Central to growing the Kiwi trade has been attendance at the annual Hong Kong International Wine & Spirits Fair. In 2008, eight Kiwi wineries attended; last year that number had grown to 40.
Wine exported to Hong Kong is not just for local consumption – some is re-exported to other Asian countries, particularly China.
"Among all Asian regions and countries, [our] per capita consumption of table wine is highest," Mr Chau said.
"Annually, every person in Hong Kong consumes 3.7 litres of table wine."
By comparison Chinese consumers drink 0.38 litres of wine a year a head, but China is the world's fastest-growing market and every year a further two million people reach middle class levels of disposable income.
"Chinese used to be heavy drinkers – we consumed more beer and strong liquor – but now people are more health conscious and there is exposure to the Western World.
"They would like to adopt the foreign way of life so this is why more table wine is being consumed, particularly red wine." Total wine consumption in China would double within three or four years, Mr Chau predicted.
"For the entire Asian market we expect the market will grow at a rate of 10-20 per cent every year."
New Zealand Winegrowers chief executive Philip Gregan said there had been a lift in total Kiwi wine exports to Asia – increasing from less than $10m annually five years ago to more than $60m today.
"It wouldn't surprise me if they were $100m during year end next year."
Another advantage to selling into Asia was that consumers preferred a slightly different mix to the sauvignon-dominated markets elsewhere.
"We can sell more red wines in there, more pinot noir, more syrah, more merlot, more cabernet sauvignon. It's a great opportunity for some of our other producers."
Romanee-Conti Lifts Sotheby's $13.8 Million Hong Kong Wine Sale
Labels: Romanee-Conti
Burgundy’s Domaine de la Romanee- Conti led Sotheby’s two-day wine sale in Hong Kong, where Asian buyers branched out from top Bordeaux labels like Chateau Lafite Rothschild to extend their dominance in the global wine market.
The auctions tallied HK$107 million ($13.8 million) including fees, a record for Sotheby’s in the city, which may overtake New York this year as the world’s biggest wine-auction market. All 1,366 lots were sold, Sotheby’s said. The presale high estimate for the two days was HK$74 million.
“The Asian buyers who are driving the international wine market right now are broadening their horizons,” auctioneer Robert Sleigh, Sotheby’s head of wine for Asia, said in an interview after the sale. “We’ve now had something like 6,000 consecutive lots sold in almost 2 years in Asia. I’ve never seen anything like that” said Sleigh, who has worked in the auction house’s wine department for 14 years.
Romanee-Conti dominated the first day’s sale, from the cellar of Texan property developer Marcus D. Hiles, with the priciest 10 lots all coming from the estate and all being bought by Asian collectors. The top lot was a case of Romanee-Conti 2005 that sold for HK$1,815,000, against a presale high estimate of HK$1.2 million. A case of the same vineyard’s 2002 fetched almost HK$1.1 million, more than double its HK$540,000 high estimate.
The top lot on the second day, from the cellar of an unidentified American collector, was a set of three double magnums of Chateau Petrus 1989 that sold for HK$726,000, compared with a high estimate of HK$400,000. Sale prices include a 21 percent buyer’s premium, Sotheby’s said.
Art to Follow
The wine sales were part of Sotheby’s 3,200-lot Hong Kong auctions this week that the company estimated will raise up to HK$1.6 billion ($210 million). Sessions beginning today include contemporary Asian art; a 6.4 carat pink diamond; antiques; jewelry; and paintings by Chinese masters including abstract artist Zao Wou-ki.
The auctions will show whether rising wealth in China is continuing to drive a recovery in art prices. Sotheby’s said the 7-day event has 800 more lots than its April auction in the city, which took a record HK$2 billion and revived prices in most categories to pre-credit-crisis levels.
The wine sales are part of four wine auctions Sotheby’s is holding in Hong Kong this month, including one from the cellars of Chateau Lafite on Oct. 29 with vintages from 1869 to 2009, followed the next day by a collection of investment-grade Bordeaux from the wine fund of SK Networks, the trading arm of one of South Korea’s largest conglomerates, at the Mandarin Oriental hotel.
Chinese appetite for top Bordeaux and Burgundies such as Lafite, Petrus and Romanee-Conti helped Hong Kong’s wine auctions outperform those in New York in the first half of this year. Sotheby’s said it has sold every lot at its past nine wine auctions in Asia.
Source: Bloomberg
