Much has been made of the potential for export growth to emerging luxury markets in both China and Russia. Many of the largest European and American brands who trade in such commodities have upped their representation overseas and staged large fairs and PR exercises designed to communicate ‘Old World’ sophistication and bolster their cultural capital. Wine has been one at the forefront of this development as an easily exportable status symbol with infinite potential for specialisation. The notion that one culture’s status symbol can be an instantly recognisable cipher for different values is an Ad man’s dream. When a product speaks of more than its qualities or production method, it gains a certain power. When that power becomes global, the product itself becomes a sort of gnomic reference to a whole litany of associations.
Andy Warhol once commented on the conceptual power of Coca-Cola in its unification of consumers across class, geography, sex and any other division. In his own eloquence:
“You can be watching TV and see Coca-Cola, and you can know that the President drinks Coke, Liz Taylor drinks Coke, and just think, you can drink Coke, too. A Coke is a Coke and no amount of money can get you a better Coke than the one the bum on the corner is drinking. All the Cokes are the same and all the Cokes are good.”
Juxtaposing these different situations presents a stark reminder of the socially levelling potential which the standardisation of products brings. Yet, at the same time, Warhol’s reflection presents us with a fairly interesting inverse. Those products which retain cultural cache and survive as unassailable status symbols in the modern world do so for exactly the reason that you can’t imagine their consumption by disparate social groups. Chateau Lafite is Chateau Lafite and whilst the President may drink it and Liz Taylor may well have done, the odds are that you can’t. Ouch. Don’t get me wrong, neither can I – that’s sort of the point of the whole status symbol thing. Yet these sorts of status symbols interest me not for their reserved nature, but for their transferability.
Chateau Lafite has massively boosted its profile in China with a culturally attuned move to enhance their appeal to that market. Their newly bottled 2008 vintage has been daubed with the Chinese symbol for 8 – a specifically lucky symbol in a culture which values such charms. Incredulous western news reports often recount the exorbitant sale of phone numbers or vehicle registrations which predominantly feature the number 8. Regardless, the bottle’s labelling provides an approving nod from a genuine status symbol.
Lafite’s market share has since rocketed, as sales have risen on the back of this new engagement with Chinese culture. UK wine sellers have reported wide-ranging stock shortages, as initial allocations flew out of the cellar and replacement stock has evaporated just as quickly. Indeed, investors reported an approximately 20% rise in prices, as a case surpassed the £10,000 mark for the first time. Investors have almost solely been Chinese or working towards the Chinese market.
For the brand spokespeople at Lafite, “the shape of the symbol seems to offer a perfect representation of the slopes of the vineyard and commemorates the launch of our Chinese wine project.” Indeed, the move is not wholly cynical. The symbol specifically commemorates the cooperation of Lafite with the Chinese State in planting 25 hectares of vines in the Penglai peninsula, Shangdong province. The seaside area, famed for dramatic coastal views and the Penglai Water Castle, boasts a moderate climate influenced by its position nestled between mountains and the sea. Long touted for investment, the Penglai are has been praised for the successful cultivation of noble varietals such as Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc and Ruby Cabernet. Some have even gone so far as to label it ‘China’s Bordeaux’, a moniker which will only be strengthened by Lafite’s investment.
Another interesting engagement with the Chinese market was made on behalf of Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Speculation that they were employing a Chinese artist to design the label for their 2008 vintage saw prices rocket on the back of market speculation. Playing to the gallery, it seems, pays well when done correctly.
Yet the eager courting of such markets brings with it abiding dangers. Such dangers don’t relate specifically to the Chinese market, or indeed any other, but instead stem from an over-reliance on the opinion of some. I have written before about Robert Parker and the perils of purported ‘Parkerisation’, which has seen French vineyards attempt to guide production towards the whims of one man’s critical empire. What then is to become of the next dominant market? Will the lure of China’s export potential drive changes in the production of wine in Europe?
This is an interesting prospect, made even more so by the prominent role of high status wineries in courting that market. If a recognised status symbol alters itself to suit an emerging market, does it change the value of the product as a status symbol? Likewise, it could be argued that the task of Lafite or any other prestige brand is to shape the market to their tastes. In an interesting economic dance, the competing influence of established product and eager consumer can lead to profound adaptation on both sides.
Perhaps in their plans to plant vines in Penglai, Lafite are stealing a march on their competition. If China is to emerge as a fine wine producer rather than just fine wine consumer (excepting the presence of many wineries such as Shanxi Grace which, although quality, lack the cache of Bordeaux’s leading houses), then European wineries would do well to get in on the ground floor. The adaptation of status symbols could well be worked round, as an organic brand emerging from within China and bearing the important association with French Chateaux could translate the competing desires of product and consumer. In this way, the negative aspects of processes like Parkerisation could cede to a genuinely sympathetic development which broaches the divide between emerging markets and existing products. Playing to the gallery need not be reductive if its chock full of other actors!
