From Bordeaux to the Stars, Jean-Michel Cazes
In the East, Something New…
In this extract, Jean-Michel Cazes secures a contact supplying Lynch Bages to Cathay Pacific, following a recommendation from Jean-Claude Rouzead of Roederer…
‘One of (Jean-Claude Rouzaud’s) clients, the Cathay Pacific company, wanted to buy Bordeaux wines from slightly older vintages, and they were looking for a Bordeaux contact. Perhaps I could help him? I had never travelled in Asia, and didn’t know Cathay Pacific. Rouzaud told me that it was a British-owned airline based in Hong Kong, and gave me a name and a telephone number. I promised to do my best… A certain Willi Scherrer confirmed his company’s interest in offering wines of various vintages to first-class passengers. Their competitor in South-east Asia, Singapore Airlines, offered Bordeaux Crus Classés which were very attractive to customers. Cathay Pacific didn’t want to be outdone. The Singaporean airline generally offered fairly young wines, while its Hong Kong competitor was looking for bottles that had aged a few years…
In the following years, this transaction proved to be a major asset for the distribution of Lynch-Bages in Asia. From 1990 onwards, the presence of our wine on board Cathay Pacific flights linking Hong Kong to all the major capitals consolidated our position with a select clientele. In Hong Kong, there was a lot of talk about it. The financiers who regularly flew to London (12 hours minimum) invented the ‘Lynch-Bages arbitrage’. This involved consuming a volume of Lynch-Bages during the flight to compensate for the higher ticket price. The spin-offs spread throughout Southeast Asia. The reputation of Lynch-Bages accentuated Cathay Pacific’s appeal to its customers, and vice versa.
As the contract progressed, our relationship with Cathay Pacific’s management grew in confidence. The flight crew, mostly young women of about 10 different nationalities, knew nothing about wine or how to serve it. Our client asked us to train them.
In 1990, for the first time, Thereza and I flew to Hong Kong to teach the flight attendants how to open and serve a bottle of wine properly. This was the first time I had met my Cathay Pacific colleagues in person. The president of the company, the Australian Rod Eddington and his Korean wife Young Sook, received us in their home in a very friendly manner.
This first trip to Hong Kong was like a whirlwind and love at first sight. We admired the city, walked around the bay and discovered a culture that was foreign to us. We explored the Chinese gastronomy in all its trends.
Most of the professionals were English and had relationships with the great London houses. The arrival of a French wine grower did not go unnoticed. The Commanderie de Bordeaux in Hong Kong, run by Vincent Cheung, a well-known lawyer, gave us a warm welcome. We also met Johnny Chan, who presided over the Hong Kong Wine Club. The Commanderie and the Club were both very active and each had about 100 members.
I learned that there was a Confraria dos Enófilosin the Portuguese enclave of Macao, of which Filipe Cunha Santos was the Grão-Mestre. To reach Macao, it took only an hour to cross the Pearl River Estuary by hydrofoil. We were all the more tempted as Thereza had cousins who had settled there after Mozambique’s independence. Filipe Santos introduced us to the sommeliers of the big hotels and restaurants. The rich Chinese players were infatuated with Lafite and Pétrus. A few more modest labels, including ours, were appearing, but the wine market was still in its infancy.
In the mid-1990s, the Asian market was still underdeveloped, with the exception of Japan, which had opened up to our wines towards the end of the 1970s. Bordeaux maintained a modest commercial activity in Hong Kong, but it was weak, even non-existent, in the other countries of the region: Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Taiwan… In continental China, during meals, many alcoholic beverages were served with toasts. Cognac was fashionable, as were beverages made with rice. But they quenched their thirst with tea. In the Middle Kingdom, wine seemed to be a lost cause.
This was before Serge Renaud, an academic whose intervention turned the market upside down. A doctor from Bordeaux, Serge was a specialist in the effects of nutrition on health. His research suggested that a reasonable consumption of wine was an effective and pleasant way to prevent cardiovascular disease. In 1990, the echoes of his study reached the United States. Morley Safer, presenter of the popular television programme 60 Minutes, broadcast the astonishing conclusions: the French population, which does little sport and devours foie gras, confit and cheese, has a much lower heart attack rate than the Americans! A name was given to this anomaly: the ‘French Paradox’. Very quickly, the news spread around the world.
The programme contributed to the popularity of wine in the United States. It also had a considerable impact in China, where people are very attentive to all things health-related. In addition, Chinese officials saw the consumption of wine, a moderately alcoholic beverage, as a way to reduce the population’s dependence on hard liquor.
Tasting on the Great Wall of China with Pierre Montagnac
We were also helped by the fact that, in China, red evokes wealth and happiness… The Chinese began to drink a little wine, red rather than white, and the market was simmering. Each time I visited Hong Kong, my contacts encouraged me to go and present my wines in ‘mainland China’ where importers were rapidly extending their distribution network to all the major cities.
At the head of the pack were Americans Don Saint-Pierre (ASC), Ian Ford (Summergate), Carl Krug (Montrose) in Shanghai and Beijing, and the Chinese company Aussino which, based in Canton, was enjoying national success.
At the end of 1993, Johnny Chan suggested that I organize a visit to Shanghai and Beijing, where he seemed to know a lot of people. An opportunity arose: a food fair, the HOFEX exhibition devoted to food products and hospitality, was to take place in 1994 in Beijing. Johnny arranged for me to rent a stand where I could present my wines to the visitors.
Wherever we went, Johnny was an indispensable guide. In each city on our itinerary, he planned a lecture and tasting. In Canton, our first stop, we wandered through the market, which was said to be one of the most rustic in the country. There were heaps of strange vegetables, improbable fish and all kinds of furry and feathered animals, dead or alive, whole or cut up, including bats nailed to boards. In Canton, almost all animals found their place on a plate. A culture shock, and not exactly appetising. Nevertheless, we did honour to the local cuisine which harmoniously combined flavours and aromas on steaming plates.
Arriving in Shanghai made a big impression. The city was expanding rapidly; construction sites were everywhere. Day and night, the workers worked in the glow of the spotlights, like scurrying ants… We went for a walk along theBund, on the banks of the Huangpu. Across in Pudong, on the far side, there rose nothing but the emblematic Shanghai television tower, still surrounded by meadows where cattle grazed peacefully. Another debate organised by Johnny, our mentor, was followed by a tasting and a gastronomic experience where fish, seafood and ginger took centre stage.
We finally arrived in Beijing, where a black limousine awaited us: this was to be our transport for the duration of our stay. On the windscreen, clearly visible from the outside, a sign saying ‘State Guest’ gave us license to travel anywhere. The welcome dinner brought together about 40 people, all unknown to us. I sat on the right of a lady who seemed to be important. Johnny told me that she represented CEROIL, a giant company specialising in agricultural and food products, which imported wheat, soya, sugar or coffee from all over the world.
Between various meals of lacquered duck, a speciality of the capital, we spent our time sightseeing. At each crossroads, thousands of bicycles would assemble in crowded groups, waiting for the green light to appear. Public hygiene was rudimentary. After loading a few bottles into the limousine, we set off for the Great Wall, determined to do a public tasting. Once there, dressed as Chinese operetta stars, we offered wine tastings to the tourists walking on the rampart. They all played along and took photos. I think this was the first wine tasting ever organized in this symbolic place. We made friends and had a great time.
From Bordeaux to the Stars is published by Academie du Vin Library, out of April 3. You can pre-order now and can also receive a £5 discount by using the code JANE5 during checkout.
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