Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Thirsty Dragon: China's Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World's Best Wines
    Thirsty Dragon: China's Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World's Best Wines
    Thirsty Dragon: China's Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World's Best Wines
    Audiobook13 hours

    Thirsty Dragon: China's Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World's Best Wines

    Written by Mustacich Suzanne

    Narrated by Hillary Huber

    4.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    An inside view of China's quest to become a global wine power and Bordeaux attempt to master the thirsty dragon it helped create. The wine merchants of Bordeaux and the rising entrepreneurs of China would seem to have little in common old world versus new, tradition versus disruption, loyalty versus efficiency. And these two communities have found their destinies intertwined in the conquest of new markets, as Suzanne Mustacich shows in the proactive account of how China is reshaping the French Wine business and how Bordeaux in making its mark on China. Thirsty Dragon lays bare the untold story of how an influx of Chinese money rescued France's most venerable wine region from economic collapse, and how the result was a series of misunderstandings and crises that threatened the delicate infrastructure of Bordeaux insular wine trade. The Bordelais and the Chinese do business according to different and often incompatible sets of rules, and Mustacich uncovers the competing agendas and little-known actors who are transforming the economics and culture of Bordeaux, even as its wines are finding new markets and ever higher prices in Shanghai, Beijing, and Hong Kong, with Hong Kong and London traders playing a pivotal role. At once a tale of business skullduggery and fierce cultural clashes, adventure, and ambition, Thirsty Dragon offers a behind-the-scenes look at the challenges to the world's most famous and prestigious wines.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHighbridge Company
    Release dateNov 10, 2015
    ISBN9781622319190
    Thirsty Dragon: China's Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World's Best Wines

    Related to Thirsty Dragon

    Related audiobooks

    Industries For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      In Vino Veritas

      Feb 18, 2020

      In Vino Veritas
      4 min read

    • Article

      In Vino Veritas

      Jul 15, 2020

      In Vino Veritas
      4 min read

    • Article

      In Vino Veritas

      Jul 15, 2020

      In Vino Veritas
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Vine Of Beauty

      Apr 11, 2024

      The Vine Of Beauty
      5 min read

    • Article

      Marketwatch

      Dec 1, 2023

      Marketwatch
      4 min read

    • Article

      Wine Of The Times

      Aug 2, 2023

      Wine Of The Times
      7 min read

    • Article

      Grapes And Gripes

      Jun 29, 2023

      WHEN I WAS APPROACHED in 2021 to write a book about English wine, I honestly wasn’t keen. It’s not that I don’t like it, I’ve long enjoyed sparkling wines from Ridgeview, Balfour, Gusbourne, and others, but I just didn’t think there was much of a sto

      3 min read

    • Article

      Bordeaux Is La Place

      Jan 1, 2022

      BORDEAUX’S unique trading system, called ‘la place’, is becoming something of a magnet for non-Bordeaux high profile producers wanting to tap into the global sales and distribution network that la place offers. You’d be forgiven for thinking that la

      4 min read

    • Article

      How Goose Island Sale To Anheuser-Busch Changed Craft Beer Is Detailed In New Book

      May 14, 2018

      There's no more fascinating brewery in America - or possibly the world - than Goose Island Beer Co. Across its 30 years, Chicago's oldest brewery has been on the leading edge of beer (it pioneered aging imperial stout in bourbon barrels) and business

      12 min read

    • Article

      Keeping It Funky

      Mar 30, 2023

      EVERYTHING ABOUT Weinert in Argentina suggests that the company has been there for generations. There’s the winery itself, housed in a Romanesque nineteenthcentury building in Mendoza, full of huge oak casks of slowly ageing wine. But most of all it’

      3 min read

    • Article

      Follow The Bubbly Trend - Asia's Getting A Kick From Champagne

      Aug 2, 2021

      The way to make these delightful bubbles was the subject of his lecture at the Royal Society some 30 years earlier than the official "birth" of champagne, sometimes pinpointed to this very week in August of 1693, when French monk Dom Perignon at the

      4 min read

    • Article

      Guardians of A Legacy

      Jun 16, 2023

      Guardians of A Legacy
      6 min read

    • Article

      Behind The Tasting

      Dec 4, 2019

      Understanding what constitutes a brand is more difficult than might be expected. For this tasting, we had to discount some excellent wines because they didn’t fall into the category of ‘brand’: defined in the dictionary as ‘a product manufactured by

      1 min read

    • Article

      The Great Wine Fraud

      Nov 20, 2023

      The Great Wine Fraud
      3 min read

    • Article

      Jane Anson

      Jul 3, 2019

      A few weeks ago, I had a private history lesson in my kitchen. The teacher was Charles (or Chad) Fudington, a professor at Horth Carolina Mtate Oniversity. C first got to know him when he lived in Bordeaux a few years ago. Ludington’s current studies

      2 min read

    • Article

      Marketwatch

      Mar 6, 2024

      Marketwatch
      3 min read

    • Article

      Collateral Damage

      Jul 3, 2019

      CAFF CT AbMOLD. Dub it naive. Describe it, hyperbolically, as the most asinine, most fruitless curb on alcohol ever conceived. Qe are, of course, speaking of the 18th Amendment of the Onited Mtates Constitution, which, exactly a century ago, gave the

      5 min read

    • Article

      Uncorked

      Jul 6, 2022

      Uncorked
      6 min read

    • Article

      2020: The Year That Was

      Dec 2, 2020

      2020: The Year That Was
      4 min read

    • Article

      EMPIRE & VINE

      Mar 1, 2023

      T hedebate around the legacies of British imperialism continues to rage, yet few of us stop to consider the pivotal role that empire played in creating the modern wine market. To be sure, there are several drinks commonly associated with European imp

      6 min read

    • Article

      It’s An All-star Cask

      Aug 18, 2022

      It’s An All-star Cask
      3 min read

    • Article

      Mother’s RUIN

      Sep 7, 2018

      Mother’s RUIN
      5 min read

    • Article

      Nectar Of The Gods

      Apr 13, 2021

      When I die and go to heaven there had better be DRC. For I certainly have not imbibed enough of the wines of the legendary Domaine de la Romanée-Conti. The juice of the gods sucked from the ground through Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grapes into your gl

      3 min read

    • Article

      Built To Last

      Mar 1, 2023

      Built To Last
      8 min read

    • Article

      NECTAR Of The GODS

      Oct 20, 2021

      NECTAR Of The GODS
      3 min read

    • Article

      Driven To Drink

      Aug 26, 2022

      “The rampant inflation that is devastating household budgets is enough to drive one to drink,” says Dominic Walsh in The Times. Investors, looking to hedge their portfolios against the ravages of consumer price rises, are increasingly investing their

      1 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Thirsty Dragon

    4.5/5

    26 ratings11 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 3/5
      An interesting look into how the entry of China into the world's wine market is happening. A lot of information. Perhaps too much for someone like me. However, a real wine lover would love this book.
    • 4/5
      In general this is a book about the complex relationship of China and French wine. As China has developed a middle class, a demand has grown for French fine wines. As Bordeaux wines come under strict scrutiny in France for their quality, and the subsequent trading ability, the Chinese seem to appreciate this, and developed a demand for this. The stor includes both demand by China to importB Bordeaux wines, and a somewht halting effort to try and grow similar wines in China. Among all the complexities of trade agreements, and the downturn in the world economy from 2008, this story takes place with many fits and starts. The author covers the attempt by many to try and sell counterfeit wines in Chinese. Many people in China are easy victims of fraud becuse of their lack of knowledge and a taste only beginning to recognize the variability in the quality of wine.The quality of any given Bordeaux is dependent on many factors: the specific vineyard, the weather, the ability of the wine-maker to combine juice from various types of grape adroitly. Added to this is the fact that the final taste of the wine will not be known for at least 18 months after it is bottled.I personally have always liked Bordeaux wines, and I have realized that many Americans are pretty indifferent to Bordeaux, particularly Sauternes. This part of the story was not really tckled by the author.This book spends a lof time on the various players, mainly Chinese, who hve tried to make China a great player in the world-wide wine industry. This book gives a good look inside as this progresses along.
    • 4/5
      An excellent book for the wine lovers on your gift list! Mustacich covers often complex ground in readable accessible prose explaining the interrelation of the French and Chinese wine markets. This is a great review of wine-making in general and in Bordeaux in particular. We readily see what makes Bordeaux wines so valued worldwide. That appreciation spread to China with its rising power in world markets in the past decade or so. Wine can be appreciated as a major component of a delightful meal. With high prices for top vineyards and hefty fees to wine "futures", Wine is also very big business. China's interests span both. A very interesting read.
    • 4/5
      I was really interested in China's foray into the wine market - as in lots of other international markets - but I was happily surprised that Mustacich covered the history of wine making and the wine industry of Bordeaux. As an aside, I feel heartened in my choice of "cheaper" organic wines knowing what I do now about the rating system. I didn't find the amount of information to be overwhelming or disjointed- I found myself enthralled and liked the order that information was presented. Appreciate the author's experience in the Bordeaux market and her ability to make this book appealing and accessible for casual wine drinkers. Would recommend, and think this is a great choice for those who are interested in learning about China's success in following our unfortunate industrial complex example- too bad history is repeating itself in this case.
    • 5/5
      Everyone is naughty in this tale of China, France and finance -even the "good guys." Secrecy and intrigue have long been a part of the wine world, especially at the high end, but this story will mesmerize even the most knowledgeable and sophisticated of oenophiles. An engaging and very well conceived book, Thirsty Dragon really does have something for every kind of reader. P.S.. -for those interested in these things, The New York Times recently ran a brilliant piece called "growing a Napa Valley in China." by Jane Sassen.. Check it out.
    • 5/5
      A fascinating insight into the collision of two starkly contrasted worlds. Not just 'old world and new world' wine, but the clash of traditions, customs and principles between Bordeaux and its attempt to conquer a growing market in China. Meticulously researched, beautifully compiled, well paced and educational without being inaccessible to an enthusiastic amateur. Tales of government corruption, bureaucracy and attempts to fix prices and control consumption; fakes, frauds and thieves; this is a pretty unflattering depiction of trading on China's terms, where "there are no rules" according to one western observer. But while it hardly portrays the Bordelais in the most generous light, either, I found myself rooting for them to protect their brands and their trademarks and preserve the dignity of a storied industry and cherished product. A producer in Inner Mongolia cannot get consumers interested in wine retailing for Y200 can't keep the very same wine in stock priced at Y5,000, such is the class-conscious wine snobbery in the wild east. Grape "DNA detectives", fine wine diluted with Fanta, massive scale fraud and deception, it's all here in this thoroughly enjoyable book. Even a passing interest in wine will draw you in to this absorbing read. And I've never read a book that literally made me thirsty before - quite an achievement. Highly recommended.
    • 3/5
      A ton of information doesn't always add up to a convincing argument, and that's the case here. Though I've had issues with anthologies, I think this would've been better as a collection of pieces, so that Mustacich could've concentrated on one topic at a time instead of spreading bits and pieces -- and a dizzying array of names -- throughout the book. (The chapter on counterfeiting and brand squatting, for instance, is pretty focused, and more memorable as a result.) More troubling is that despite some minutiae about attempts to establish vineyards in China, the subject is Bordeaux wine as a commodity and a brand. This means the discussion is all about prices, trading, auctions, speculation, etc. (boring to a foodie like me), and what's at stake is the financial health of the chateaux and the négociants who act as middlemen for the wine trade. I am one of the last people to defend how China does business, but the book fails to prove that China has irreparably damaged either this system or the quality of the wine itself, and just because people have been doing something for hundreds of years doesn't mean that other people can't try to go one better. (In the author's defense, I'm sure it was difficult to investigate many of the events she covers, given China's lack of transparency.) I'm still comfortable giving the book away instead of recycling it, but maybe I should include a sticky warning potential readers not to believe its alarmist subtitle.
    • 5/5
      Even if you know nothing about wine and how it's grown, made, marketed, sold and shipped, and even if you don't speak French, you can appreciate the information in this book. There's a lot of it, it covers a lot of interesting places, there are oodles of people (so many I can't hope to remember them all) and the author does a good job of making what is, to most people, a very niche subject - some Chinese people's interests in Bordeaux wine - comprehensible and interesting. Clearly a book the Mrs. Mustacich was very interested in writing.My only serious beef with it is that I believe the subtitle is a bit hyperbolic. There isn't much presented in the way of what actually threatens Bordeaux - maybe there's more meaning there if you have advanced degrees in winemaking and economics, but I do not, so I don't get the conclusion. It's not like Chinese business owners have been turning wineries in Bordeaux into parking lots or strip malls en masse, or that there's some weird international conspiracy. Bordeaux winemakers and sellers got greedy, helped create a massive bubble in the French wine market, and got burned when it burst. One can argue the impact of Chinese counterfeiters, brand squatters and other intellectual property shenanigans, but it's not like China was or is the only place on Earth that buys wine from Bordeaux.I didn't feel the subtitle was warranted because the "threat" information is too dispersed and spread out in the text. The epilogue sums it up a bit, but there is not much else to be found. There is a tendency for the text to wander a bit, but whether you think that is a bad thing or not is going to depend on how much you are interested in the wanderings. Most of them go to places I find interesting, so I don't mind them.
    • 5/5
      I approached Suzanne Mustacich’s Thirsty Dragon: China’s Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World’s Best Wines with some trepidation. I know little about wine. Ms. Mustacich, however, proves to be a knowledgeable guide. She has contributed to many wine magazines, and holds an enology (winemaking) diploma from the University of Bordeaux. Thirsty Dragon is less about winemaking than it is about business. It’s the tale of an emerging market and a clash of cultures told through a single commodity: wine.The book begins with an introduction to the production and sale of Bordeaux wines, as well as an overview of China's introduction to wine. From there, the author follows the expansion of the Chinese market, from tacit endorsements by government officials to importers creating a homegrown wine culture and speculative traders causing commodity bubbles. I was particularly engrossed in the darker side of the story: smugglers trying to avoid import duties and taxes and forgers creating fake wines from potentially toxic chemical cocktails.Ms. Mustacich covers the story in impressive detail - perhaps too much for some casual readers. At times the story gets lost in minutia. A huge number of people enter and exit the story. Some are key players shaping events, while others are there to illustrate market trends. It can be a challenge to figure out who will prove to be important, and who won’t. That being said, Thirsty Dragon: China’s Lust for Bordeaux and the Threat to the World’s Best Wines proved to be an interesting and engaging look at the international wine trade – a riveting tale of culture, wine, and China’s rise to economic power.
    • 5/5
      I don’t know much (anything?) about fine wine in general or Bordeaux in particular, but that didn’t get in the way of enjoying this book. Necessary background was presented in an engaging and unobtrusive way and the story is a real cliffhanger. Ms. Mustachich clearly knows her subject and weaves in information about the people involved in a way that makes you care about how their fortunes will evolve. While this story is set in France and China and focuses on wine, there are universal themes explored here. The customs and laws of each country are not well understood by either side, old rules and new business practices collide, country and individual value systems contrast, and the uncertainty built into the wine business is more than matched by the uncertainty of Chinese politics. While I’d have to read again and more slowly to feel I had a reasonable grasp of the various chateaux, and grapes and the classification system, this book does make you want to learn more and I will be paying more attention to wine lists and labels in the future.
    • 5/5
      Full disclosure: my dad, who is much more of an oenophile (and a better book reviewer) than I am, read this book and wrote the review. I trust him and his opinion 100%!Thirsty Dragon is not your ordinary wine book. There are no tasting notes, no paeans to terroir and no debates over the merits of decanting one or two hours before drinking a favorite cabernet. Instead, there are characters that seem to have escaped from a James Bond novel: counterfeiters, smugglers, communist bureaucrats, and greedy French vineyard owners. The story that Suzanne Mustacich tells is one of China’s infatuation with Bordeaux wines, particularly the five famous first growths, and how wine came to be used in China almost as a second currency, for bribes, gifts and speculative investment. As post-Mao China developed a class of entrepreneurs and government officials who had both money and political power, fine wine became a possession which could distinguish the merely rich from the super rich. At an auction in 2010, a mysterious Chinese buyer paid $233,972 for a single bottle of Chateau Lafite, albeit the 1869 vintage. Wine was not to be savored, it was to be an indication of status.Thirsty Dragon introduces characters such as Thomas and Vincent Yip of Topsy Trading, a Hong Kong importer and reseller that became one of Bordeaux’s leading buyers, all the while admitting that “the vast majority of Chinese still didn’t drink wine”. As prices for the best wines rose, counterfeiters moved in, observing that if the wine was never to be consumed, it was the label that was important; the bottle’s contents could be anything from inferior wine to colored water.Mustacich handles the economics and business of wine merchandising expertly and sprinkles her book with amusing vignettes of the people who inhabit the international wine trade, both in China and France. Thirsty Dragon is a book for both wine lovers who question the current prices for fine wine and students of China who wonder whether unfettered capitalism and communist bureaucracy can coexist.