Triple A

Friends’ owners of a wine bar in Bordeaux, BU, sent their best wishes to Murielle and wrote: “May you to keep your AAA for the coming year: vAlAndrAud”.

They’re not wrong considering all the trademark problems we’re currently experiencing in China and which are quite common for owners of Chateaux in Bordeaux.
Indeed, a malicious person registered our brand in China and we now have to file a law suit or pay to get our Valandraud name back, which everyone knows belongs to us, including this dishonest Chinese. This is probably due to Claude Lada’s guide on all the wines of Bordeaux which was translated into Chinese.
It looks like a Chinese person registered as many brands as possible; finding the process easy to do. I asked the CIVB if they could help us through a collective action with our Foreign Minister, Alain Juppé but I was told that it was not their job. They recommended I contact the office of Sopexa in Hong Kong which, unfortunately, is not useful.

Our elected officials, ministers, representatives, are not able to defend our private interests and our trademark issues, even if wine accounts for a good share of our trade balance and is an important creator of jobs directly or indirectly. But no... It’s a private sector issue, except that many chateaux in Bordeaux have to hire one or even several attorneys to look into legal loopholes in trademark registrations, similar to theft and counterfeits, we must manage on our own. Still everyone will be happy to say that the wine business is going well in China, thanks to them!
In my opinion, a phone call from the secretary of our Minister to the Secretary of the appropriate Chinese Minister could quickly resolve this issue and encourage him to stop these unscrupulous merchants.

Will Valandraud keep its triple A in China? Maybe, considering that we’ve asked a friend importer in China to file a suit. If nothing is done collectively, this issue will last 3-5 years?

We drank with our meal, actually with a Chinese lady who runs a château recently purchased by a large Chinese company, and our banking consultants Daniel & Michael: Compassant 2004 always good, Valandraud 2007 which is just starting to be expressive and our Maury Thunevin-Calvet 2007.
In Pomerol, I tasted many batches of our 2011, 2012 and even 2009.
First of all, the 2011 seemed to me to be fuller and more concentrated than we first tasted it when it was just devatted. The wine is improving during the aging process, even if the wood is too present at this stage.
2010 is the best produced by this property and will most likely place us in the top 20 best Pomerol. It’s ambitious but quite possible if the same quality I just tasted remains: aromas, harmony; goes to show, I compare it to the pleasure you get in 2009 which, for me, is the best vintage ever in Bordeaux, but who knows what it will be in 20 or 30 years!
In 2009, we are still searching for the style of this property we purchased in 2006. I feel that the fact that 2010 is what I was looking for, it was then quite a fast process. The property in Margaux we bought in 2006 also produced a nice 2010 cuvee, but it took quite a long time!