If you ask Jean-Charles Cazes of Chateau Lynch Bages - who was recently in Hong Kong - what is the secret to the wine's success in China, he's likely to say there is no secret. Yet Cazes, like his father before him, works the market and even holds a Hong Kong frequent traveller card, which allows him to avoid the long immigration queues at the airport. The criteria for obtaining the card? 'A minimum of three trips to Hong Kong each year and I meet the criteria easily,' says Cazes, who is in Asia nearly every month.
Jean-Charles Cazes' father, Jean-Michel Cazes, was a tireless ambassador for Lynch Bages and for Bordeaux wines in Asia since joining his father in the family business in 1973. In the 1970s and '80s, the wine cellar, as well as the vineyard, went through major upgrades. This was the same for many quality-conscious chateaux in Bordeaux in the '80s - a period of great progress: old vats were replaced with stainless steel tanks or tailor-made wooden vats that reflected the size of different vineyard plots; new technology such as vacuum evaporators that remove excess water from rain-affected vintages were experimented with; cellars were expanded; the vineyard's density, clones and rootstocks were all re-examined if necessary.
Savvy chateaux owners know that the work in the vineyard and cellar is not enough to generate sales. Jean-Michel Cazes worked in key markets as much as he did in the cellar and the vineyard. His greatest contribution to this region is the dedication and focus he brought to sharing the best wines of Bordeaux, which includes his family's wines as well as the insurance company and chateau owner AXA Millesimes' portfolio, with Hong Kong and the mainland. Cazes was among the first Bordeaux chateaux owners to visit China and make the effort to visit regularly for the past two decades. Lynch Bages' success in this part of the world is due as much to the winemaker's work in the vineyard as it is to their accumulated air miles.
Since 1989, Lynch Bages has been served in Cathay Pacific's first class cabins and this has no doubt raised its profile. Simon Staples, sales director of Berry Bros & Rudd who recently relocated to Hong Kong from London, believes Lynch Bages is always a solid wine, whether for investment or drinking. He said recently: 'It is very difficult to second guess the market, but every vintage from 2000 onwards of Lynch Bages has moved upwards over the past few months.'
The fact that Lynch Bages is rated a Fifth Growth, the lowest category among the classified Medoc wines in the 1855 classification, has made no difference. Its Chinese name, 'Lan Chi Pat', was adopted as a tribute to the famous 20th century Cantonese opera singer of the same name and is easy to pronounce. Cazes knew early on what other chateaux took another decade to figure out - that the Chinese name is crucial to its success in this market and so is its label.
While Lynch Bages' success can be attributed to air miles and investment in the market, others find it easier to succeed through packaging. Just go to any wine section of a major Chinese department store in Beijing or Shanghai and it is clear that packaging is crucial. Any self-respecting Chinese red wine sold for above 1,000 yuan (HK$1,220), of which there are now dozens of choices, comes in its own individual heavy wooden box or leather case. Premium wines from Changyu or Dynasty are placed in boxes that are heavier than the bottle.
