Red Obsession

For centuries, Bordeaux has commanded an almost mythical status in the world of wine as a leitmotif of wealth, power and influence, but its prosperity has always been linked to the capricious nature of markets and the shifting fortunes of global economies. Now change is coming to Bordeaux with traditional customers like the US and the UK falling away as China's new rich push prices to stratospheric levels. The demand is unprecedented, but the product is finite and this new client wants it all. While China could bring untold wealth to Bordeaux, their terms of engagement are different and more challenging from any other customer in the past. Will Bordeaux permanently damage a reputation it has taken centuries to build by turning its back on its traditional customers? Is it possible to maintain integrity in the face of insatiable appetite, the seductive promise of a "silk road" paved in gold and engagement with a culture whose fakery industry is churning out counterfeit Bordeaux on a scale never seen before?