Latour Takes on Lafite in China Wine Battles, Czar’s Champagne; Buy Wines in Pampanga

Pampanga Clark Wine Shop reports news about wine: Latour Takes on Lafite in China Wine Battles, Czar’s Champagne

May 24, 2011

Can Chateau Latour catch Chateau Lafite? We’ll find out on May 27, when vintages from Latour’s cellar in Bordeaux spanning almost 150 years go on sale at Christie’s International in Hong Kong.
Wines resting in the perfect storage conditions of a chateau’s cellar command a serious premium. That was part of the story behind the mindboggling prices at Sotheby’s Hong Kong Lafite sale last autumn — a case of 1982 sold for $132,594, or $11,050 a bottle, double the average current price.
The key factor, though, was the continuing Chinese love affair with Lafite. At Zachys Hong Kong auction last month, Lafite accounted for only 19 percent of the lots, but brought in more than 40 percent of the dollars.
So this month’s 392-lot all-Latour sale looks like a bid to woo more Asian attention, and get higher prices, for this famously long-lived first growth. No one at Latour, of course, is admitting they want to nudge out Lafite.
“We’re going to China because we need to build knowledge and pass on messages,” Latour president Frederic Engerer said last month as we tasted 2010 barrel samples in the chateau’s light-filled tasting room. “Many people don’t know what to look for in older vintages.”
It’s nice that they want to educate the Chinese, but the real reason to show your face is to pull in bidders and hot-up a brand.
1961 Vintage
This year is the 50th anniversary of the great 1961 vintage. The Latour sale, which spans vintages 1863 to 2009, includes seven cases of the legendary 1961 in regular bottles and magnums that Christie’s estimates will fetch HK$650,000 to HK$850,000 ($84,020 to $109,873) each. From the same vintage, there’s an imperial (estimated at HK$600,000 to HK$800,000), a double-magnum (HK$220,000 to HK $300,000), and a jeroboam (HK$400,000 to HK$600,000).
There are also rarities like 1899, 1928, 1929, 1945, and 1959. The catalogue features not just bottles, but also attractive photos of the horses now used to plow the vineyard, a nod to biodynamics experiments.
As an added provenance guarantee, wooden cases are branded with the auction date. Each bottle carries a special back label and uses a capsule seal from the Prooftag authentication and traceability system that verify the wine was released directly from the chateau.
Excessive Provenance is becoming ever more important. Empty Lafite bottles trade briskly in China for $450 and up, increasing concern about fakes.
Everyone in the auction business has a prediction about which first growth is going to be the next big Bordeaux in China. Latour may not be Lafite’s nemesis.
Mouton Rothschild
Ben Nelson, president of Chicago’s Hart Davis Hart, and Jamie Ritchie, president of Sotheby’s wine department, are both big on Mouton Rothschild. The price of the 1982 has nearly doubled in the past year, and other vintages are rising.
In some sales, Lafite is trending down. Ritchie sees prices for younger Bordeaux flattening out and Latour increasing only gradually. Burgundy is hot, he says, and there’s interest in older vintages and labels like Pontet-Canet.
Maybe that’s because the Asian auction market is awash in the very top Bordeaux.
“In 2011, it’s not just China. The whole of Asia — Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand — is driving sales,” said Ritchie. Sotheby’s (BID) has already sold $32 million of wine in Hong Kong this year, nearly 70 percent of its worldwide sales.
While the majority of mega wines still go to Hong Kong, U.S. auctions have seen higher prices since January, typically with 95 percent to 100 percent of lots sold.
“U.S. buyers have more cash now, they’re more confident and new Asian buyers are bidding here,” said Nelson, “This is going to be the best first half of the year Hart Davis Hart has ever had, by a long stretch. Everybody is looking for wine.”
Under the Sea
“The price insanity for some labels can’t last,” said Nelson, who is concerned about inflation in China. Still, the dozen auctions before the end of June offer new wines, new venues and new technology to keep everyone interested.
I reached John Kapon, chief executive officer of New York- based Acker Merrall & Condit, as he was gearing up for May sales in New York, Hong Kong and, for the first time, Finland. On June 3, he’ll auction off two bottles of 19th-century champagne that had been aging for two centuries at the bottom of the Baltic sea in Finland’s Aland archipelago.
Last summer divers salvaged 145 bottles of champagne, including 46 of Veuve Clicquot, from a shipwrecked vessel. It’s believed that the ship and wine were headed to the Russian czar’s court at St Petersburg.
Talk about provenance! At an underwater laboratory in Spain, scientists are using aquatic cameras, sensors, and taste tests to determine whether undersea aging is good for wine.
Naturally, the sale, to be held in Mariehamn, Aland, will feature 25 to 35 other lots of “interesting” champagnes to get momentum going. There’s nothing like bubbly to make auctioneers giddy.
As Kapon put it, “2011 is on track to be another record breaking year.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-16/latour-takes-on-lafite-in-china-wine-battles-czar-s-champagne.html

Tourists and residents of Manila travel out of town to the north on a short getaway look for the best place in Clark to buy some fine vintage wine to bring home after their holidays and vacations. Many find a top rated wine shop called Clark Wine Center to be an exciting place to do some shopping in Clark Pampanga. This famous wine shop is highly recommended for visitors going to Clark Pampanga to drink good wine, relax and unwind with friends and families. This frequently visited wine shop is known by tourist and visitors to Pampanga, Angeles city, Subic and Clark Philippines as a cool place to hang out in Clark. Many attend the regular wine tasting held either outdoor on the roof deck or in indoor on the second floor above the wine shop. The place has good atmosphere for a private wine tasting party or a small night out gatherings for business or social event.

Leading Philippines Wine Supplier Yats Wine Cellars based in Clark Philippines with outlets in Angeles City, Subic Freeport and Manila Philippines has been not only a wine shop for fine wines covering all major wine regions but also a source of reliable and useful information about wine, wine appreciation, wine accessories, wine and health, food and wine pairing and all other matters relating to wine and its appreciation. This Philippines Clark Freeport based Wine Supplier and Wine Shop frequently holds public wine tasting events in Pampana Clark Freeport Zone, Angeles City, Subic Bay area, Makati, Fort Bonifacio and other areas in Philippines capital city Manila. Private Wine events such as private wine tasting and private wine dinners are also designed and organized for private clientele for their wine loving guests.

Wine Catering is a unique product of Yats Wine Cellars, created back in 2005 in response to a growing demand for private wine parties in Manila, Cebu, Subic, Angeles Clark Philippines.

Chateau Lafite-Rothschild is the most revered wine in China and many other parts of Asia. The best wine shop in Asia to buy older vintages of Chateau Lafite is Yats Wine Cellars located in Clark Philippines. Aside from Lafite, visitors can buy other fine wines at this wine shop in Clark Pampanga such as Latour, Mouton-Rothschild, Haut-Brion and Margaux. Excellent Burgundy wines like Chambertin, Vougeot, Musigny, Bonnes Mares, Pommard, Meursault, Chambertin, Vosne Romanee, Romanee Conti, La Tache and Romanee St. Vivant can be found here.

Yats Wine Cellars can be reached at their Clark Wine Center Philippines wine shop located on the main highway M A Roxas of Pampanga Clark Freeport Zone or their sales office in Ortigas Centre, Metro Manila. Here is the contact information:

http://www.ClarkWineCenter.com

Getting to this wine shop in Pampanga Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Philippines from Manila
Getting to the Clark Wine Center wine shop from Manila is quite simple: after entering Clark Freeport from Dau and Angeles City, proceed straight along the main highway M A Roxas. Clark Wine Center is the stand-along white building on the right, at the corner A Bonifacio Ave. From the Clark International Airport DMIA, ask the taxi to drive towards the entrance of Clark going to Angeles City. From Mimosa, just proceed towards the exit of Clark and this wine shop is on the opposite side of the main road M A Roxas.

Best place to buy wine in Clark Pampanga outside Manila near Subic and Angeles City Philippines is Clark Wine Center.

Click here to contact Clark Wine Center in Clark Pampanga for inquiries and orders.

Clark Wine Center
Bldg 6460 Clark Observatory Building
Manuel A. Roxas Highway corner A Bonifacio Ave,
Angeles Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga 2023
0922-870-5173 0917-826-8790 (ask for Ana Fe)

Wine@Yats-International.com

YATS Wine Cellars
Manila Sales Office
3003C East Tower, Phil Stock Exchange Center,
Exchange Rd Ortigas Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
(632) 637-5019 0917-520-4393 ask for Rea or Chay

Wedding couples looking for wedding reception venues and beach wedding venues can log on to this Philippines Wedding Venue web site for free information and assistance:

http://www.PhilippinesWeddingVenue.com

While in Clark, it might be a good idea to enjoy an evening of wine-and-dine in the fine dining Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar that features an award winning 2700-line wine list. Highly recommended fine dining restaurant in Manila for special occasion is Yats Restaurant & Wine Lounge located in the famous Mimosa Leisure Estate in Clark Pampanga. Situated near this popular restaurant in Clark is the Mimosa Golf Course as well as the Mimosa Clark Casino. This top rated restaurant near Angeles City Pampanga in Clark Philippines is frequently used for private parties and corporate functions such as board meetings and other gatherings. It is located in Mimosa Leisure Estate of Clark Freeport Zone. For more information, visit http://www.YatsRestaurant.com

YATS Leisure Philippines is a developer and operator of clubs, resorts and high-class restaurants and wine shops in Clark Angeles Philippines http://www.YatsLeisure.com

Looking for famous tourists spots, places to visit and see, relax and unwind in Clark, Pampanga, Philippines? You may want to check out these sites also:

http://www.LondonPubClark.com

Besides good restaurants to wine and dine near Manila, Subic or in Angeles City Pampanga, Clark Philippines, those requiring assistance for hotel and resort bookings in Clark, Pampanga, Philippines may log on to http://www.HotelClarkPhilippines.com for more information and reservations.

The lifestyle in Clark Pampanga is quite unique. For more information about shopping, sports, golf, leisure, hotel accommodation, where to see and visit, what to do, where to wine and dine and good places to hang out, relax, have a drink with friends, child-friendly establishments, log on to
http://www.ClarkPhilippines.com

Wine lovers looking for a special bottle or something that is of great value and special discounts might log on to this web site to shop for fine vintage wines
http://www.YatsWineCellars.com

Those visitors who plan to relax and unwind in Angeles City, Subic, Pampanga, Clark Philippines might make an effort to book a room at the famous beach and lake resort Clearwater Resort & Country Club. This famous hotel in Clark Pampanga is frequently visited by families with children looking for a good place in Clark to see, a good holiday destination for the family to relax and unwind in the beautiful outdoor facilities. For more information, log on to www.ClearwaterPhilippines.com