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As recession-hit families struggle to maintain historic chateaux, Chinese investors are seen by some as saviours
Looking across the sculptured gardens of his chateau, with its stone nymphs paying tipsy homage to the joy of intoxication, Paul-Henry de Bournazel explained that his ancestors had been making wine here for more than 400 years. "It gives you strength in the difficult years," he said. "As though you can hear them saying 'Allez! – get to it!'"
But Bordeaux winemakers, steeped in centuries of history, are facing competition from vintners of an entirely different lineage – Chinese businessmen and investors who are snapping up struggling chateaux in the region.
Three properties have been sold this year, three others – including Château Richelieu, former home to the infamous cardinal's favourite mistress – are already in Chinese hands. Land agents report a surge in the number of Chinese investors looking to buy, said Alexander Hall, director of Vineyard Intelligence, a Bordeaux-based consultancy. "The number of sales is small but over the last year agents have seen a huge number of enquiries. The real boom could be in two years' time."
Yet there is little sign of the often fiercely patriotic French erecting barricades against the invaders. Hit hard by the economic crisis, the region has seen consumption and exports fall – by 23% and 25% to the US and UK respectively in 2009, a drop which was only partially recovered last year.
Walking among the ancient vines at Château de Malle, De Bournazel said many families struggled to make ends meet. "Nobody sells for pleasure, but you would struggle to find a chateau that wouldn't sell for the right price. It's sad, but I'd rather see families sell to the Chinese than tear themselves apart trying to keep a property."
Rather than being viewed as conquerors, Chinese wine buyers are seen as saviours of the region – last year China overtook both Germany and the UK to become Bordeaux's biggest customer, with exports growing by 67%. Bernard Farges, president of the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB), the body representing its wine growers and buyers, said Chinese investors buying vineyards would boost exports further.
"These are businessmen who believe in their investment, who are opening doors to a new market and ploughing money into properties to make great wine," he said.
Others argue that the Chinese are simply the latest in a long line of foreign investors – including the Dutch, the English and the Danes – in Bordeaux.
Sat in the faded grandeur of his wooden panelled salon at the Château Myrat, Xavier de Pontac said Bordeaux had never been squeamish about foreign investment. "First it was our regional neighbours, then European – now its our neighbours around the world," he said. "They come for a taste of Bordeaux, and then either leave because it is too hard, or fall in love with what they produce and become Bordelais."
Recent Chinese buyers had invested in equipment and buildings and kept on experienced staff, he added. "Perhaps I would prefer if the people I grew up with still owned all the land around here, but new Chinese owners will make our wines known around the world."
The wine market in China was slight before 2005, but a taste for luxury goods, coupled with a government campaign promoting the health benefits of wine over brain-bending local spirits, has helped high-end Bordeaux become the gift of choice for government officials and the preferred lubricant for business meetings, said Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research Group.
But while the French joke their first taste of vin rouge is from a baby's bottle, many Chinese are unfamiliar with wine-drinking culture, he said.
"I've been in meetings where a €2,000 bottle of wine is drunk as shots or with ice-cubes," he said. "It is not about trying to savour or appreciate – they just buy what is the most expensive. It has to be French, and the more expensive the better."
That is changing, said De Bournazel, who welcomes the Chinese wine boom. "They are very demanding, they want to know everything," he said. "They are starting to realise the value of wine, not just the price of it."
Not everyone is supportive of this new breed of Bordelais. Patrick Etineau recently sold Château de la Salle to a Chinese investor amid a storm of acrimony. "I found them very condescending," he said. "They have the money and they think we are in penury."
He says since the chateau was sold in January the vines have been left largely untended. "I was happy to sell, because I couldn't maintain the property, but now I have the impression that they don't care at all. We used to make beautiful wine, but this year I fear it will only be fit for the pigs."
Voices of caution warn producers about relying too heavily on Chinese customers, or fear that new owners unused to the vagaries of winemaking will struggle.
"The French always think that the sky is going to fall on their heads but we have to reassure them this is a very good thing," said Farges.
With almost 8,000 vineyards in Bordeaux, the risk of the region being "conquered" by Chinese investors remains small, but with a burgeoning Chinese middle class, which could see around 350 million people drinking wine by next year, the benefits of investment are clear.
At Château Myrat, after pouring a glass of nectar-like Sauternes, a sweet wine as yet relatively unknown in China, De Pontac explained why he remained sanguine. "The soul of Bordeaux is in its ground, its terroir, its savoir-faire," he said. "You can't put that on a plane and take it to China."