Louis Ng Chi-sing, the chief operating officer of SJM, Stanley Ho Hung-sun's flagship company, has caused a stir in Burgundy's Cote de Nuits. He has had the temerity to buy the Chateau de Gevrey-Chambertin from the Miteran family for a reported US$10 million, the Wine Spectator reports. In so doing, he outbid a group of local vintners whose best offer was US$6.2 million. However, the Wine Spectator says the sale has provoked a backlash from Burgundy residents who worry that "France's cultural heritage" is being snapped up by foreigners.
The acquisition includes a 12th-century chateau and 2 hectares of vines.
"I have nothing against this guy personally. But you love your country, I love mine. We love our cultural heritage. We are asking Unesco to classify our climats as a World Heritage site - and yet, those terroirs might not remain in our hands," said Jean-Michel Guillon, the owner of Domaine Guillon et Fils and head of the unsuccessful local syndicate that bid for the estate.
Guillon added that he also feared the whims of the super-rich. "The vignerons that I represent are worried about foreign investors who come in here and buy an estate like you buy a pair of shoes. Apparently, €8 million (HK$77.8 million) for [Ng] is like €50 for me."
Sounds like a case of old-fashioned xenophobia. It's not as if Ng is going to transport the estate back to Macau.
We hear of a meeting in Mui Wo yesterday between the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department and a collection of non-governmental organisations that want to stop the removal of feral cows from southern Lantau. Rainbow Wong, a big landowner, together with the department announced that the meeting was closed to reporters. Wong has long claimed that there have been lots of complaints about the cow pies on the roads, and so the cows must go. But there are about 6,000 people in Mui Wo, and neither he nor the department people have ever provided any evidence as to who these angry people are.