Chinese wine friend purchases vineyards in Vosne-Romanée

Even though, this deal is different from Chinese’s purchases in Bordeaux because Shi Yi is the first Chinese owner of a Burgundy vineyard. He and Pascal Chevigny are of the same age, they met for the first time during their master studies of wine and spirits at the University of Dijon. They have been working together for as long as six months, Shi Yi is the marketing director of the winery, Pascal Chevigny is responsible for the vineyards and the cellar.

“Together, we want to accompany our wines from the grape to the bottle”, Shi Yi says. “Besides the grapes from the new vineyard, we are going to purchase further grapes from the region that will be vinified by Pascal in our cellar in Vosne-Romanée. The wines will ripe in a different cellar that we are running in Nuits-Saint-Georges.”

As during the last six months three containers of Burgundy wines have been exported to Shanghai, it is obvious that both friends’ wines are determined to be sold almost exclusively in China. Thus, the trading base in China has already been built.

Shi Yi, who lives in Burgundy, is, nonetheless, not satisfied with the two hectares. Mr. Yi has purchased one more hectare in Champs Perdrix, a famous vineyard in Vosne-Romanée; Champs Perdrix directly borders La Tâche, a vineyard at the Côte d’Or, Burgundy, that is estimated as Grand Cru. Moreover, he found and purchased the Les Petits Monts vineyard, a Premier Cru vineyard near Richebourg.

Though Shi Yi’s purchases in Burgundy can be considered as unusual, he is not the first Asian owner of vineyards in Burgundy. As early as ten years ago, Koji Nakada, a Japanese sommelier, purchased the Maison Lou Dumont estate with its vineyards in the Nuit-Saint-Georges. In Bordeaux, it has almost become normal Asian investors to purchase estates. There, 20 estates alone are owned by Chinese.

Kyriakos Kynigopoulos, a Greek wine consulter and owner of a laboratory named Burgundy Oenology with its seat in Beaune, comments the purchase as follows: “Usually, people in Burgundy are very reserved when it comes to their vineyards. It is, though, very unusual to sell top vineyards, or small parts of them. I can imagine the raised eyebrows of the renowned Burgundy estates.” (red.yoopress)