The concept of want is everywhere, the wine world no exception. We want the hottest, trendiest bottles; we want the cult brands, the status symbols—the wines that have been on the want list so long that we’ve lost the inherent spirit of what a luxury brand truly represents.

A question was asked during our #WineStudio Sancerre Program regarding the percentage of Sancerre exports to China. For China, it’s still all about Bordeaux, Rhone, even Napa – the big cultish reds that claim large price tags and for which China’s fashionable are so inclined to purchase. And now with China’s recent ease on its regulations on its importing of wines with residual sugar, another cultish wine, Château d’Yquem has reached record sales.

So where does this leave Sancerre?

Loire Valley wines today represent just one percent of all French wine exports into China. That’s the entirety of the region, of which Sancerre is just a small parcel. Bordeaux négociants have been nurturing their relationship with China for two decades and Bordeaux currently represents 70 percent of all French wines exported to China, so it didn’t quite happen overnight. However, for Sancerre, that could very well be the case. With the Asian demand of “anything new” rising, Sancerre vignerons have the opportunity to position themselves as what’s next.

You Wenrui, wine buyer for one of China’s largest online wine retailers, wine9.com, said: “Bordeaux is the most famous wine region and it offers a range of varieties and flavors. One in two bottles of wine sold by wine9 are French…“ However, there is hope for other producers. “We have come to Vinexpo to increase our range. We want to offer greater diversity,” Wenrui added while tasting a Sancerre. (Jing Daily)

Luxury is Simplicity

As with most wine regions, there are those who will do what they must to crack into the nut that is China. And then there are those who feel their wines are what they are and it will happen or it won’t.

According to Christian Chabirand of the Prieure La Chaume, people in the Loire Valley are balanced above all else — rarely temperamental, never extreme, much like their weather and their wines. “Luxury is simplicity.”  (Jing Daily)

Perhaps we make our own reality.  Maybe, it’s about colouring and designing in such a way that we forge our own path, at our own pace, much like we’re doing with our online Twitter program #WineStudio. To us, Sancerre represents the natural order of things: a particular place, with wines of differing colours reflecting that same place: a simplicity that transcends the business of wine and reveals its true spirit.

Tina and GUY, Partners
PROTOCOL wine studio