Crackdowns on Corruption in China a Factor in Poor Bordeaux Sales

bordeaux wine

Bordeaux sales dropped drastically last year because of a poor 2013 harvest and slowing demand in China, reports The Guardian. China has long been a main export market for Bordeaux, and now that the country is seeing a crackdown on corruption by new leadership, lavish bottles of wine are no longer being gifted to win the favor of officials.

According to the CIVB association of Bordeaux winemakers, 685 million bottles of Bordeaux were sold in 2014, showing an 8 percent drop from the previous year. For exports alone, there were declines of 9 percent in terms of volume and 17 percent in terms of value.

Besides a crackdown on corrupt gifts in China, the wine market there was bound to slow eventually, according to Bernard Farges, the head of the CIVB, “The Chinese market, which has had an incredible rise since 2005, had to slow down.” He explained that this may also have to do with competition coming form New World wines from the like of Australia and Chile. [The Guardian][Photo: Flickr/Jing]