The world’s oldest charity wine auction, held on behalf of a medieval hospital in the Burgundy region of France, raised a record 6.3 million euros (US$8.5 million), boosted by bidding from China.
China-based businesswoman Yan Hong Cao paid 131,000 euros for the “president’s barrel,” containing 456 liters of Meursault-Genevrieres Premier Cru, Cuvee Philippe le Bon, at the 153rd edition of the Hospices de Beaune auction.
The annual event, held in collaboration with Christie’s International, sells barrels of Burgundy’s latest vintage from vineyards owned by the hospital, founded in 1443.
Photo: AFP
This year’s vintage is problematic. For the second straight year, vineyards in Burgundy were pounded by hailstorms in the summer, dramatically reducing yields for some winemakers.
The total production of the region was forecast to be 126 million liters, about 20 percent down on a typical year, according to data released this month by the Burgundy Wine Board.
“It is a tricky vintage,” said Paul Hammond, a part-director at the London-based merchants IG Wines, in an interview. “Because of the low yields, pricing will be high and the market will take it, even though the quality isn’t as good as 2012. The risk is that people will become disenchanted with Burgundy, as they have with First-Growth Bordeaux.”
This year’s difficult growing season produced a smaller-than-usual auction of 443 barrels, divided between 333 red and 110 white. All of them sold. The total, which includes fees, beat the record of 5.9 million euros achieved last year from a sale of 516 barrels.
This was the first time a Chinese bidder had bought the president’s barrel since Christie’s had become involved in the sale in 2005.
Christie’s had courted Asian bidders with tastings in Singapore, Hong Kong and Beijing.
Bidders from Asia bought 9.5 percent of the auction, the London-based auction house said.
Last year their purchases represented 12 percent of its value.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
While China’s leaders use their economic and political might to fight US President Donald Trump’s trade war “to the end,” its army of social media soldiers are embarking on a more humorous campaign online. Trump’s tariff blitz has seen Washington and Beijing impose eye-watering duties on imports from the other, fanning a standoff between the economic superpowers that has sparked global recession fears and sent markets into a tailspin. Trump says his policy is a response to years of being “ripped off” by other countries and aims to bring manufacturing to the US, forcing companies to employ US workers. However, China’s online warriors
RSS