It may be popularly believed that wine writers like me are sent Bordeaux first growths all the time but this is very far from the truth. So when, in early July, I opened a box of wine to find a bottle of Chateau Lafite 2019 in it, it was quite an occasion. Especially since it had been sent not from Bordeaux but from a producer of Chinese wine.

Austrian Lenz Moser has a joint venture in the Chinese province of Ningxia with the biggest Chinese wine company Changyu, called Chateau Changyu Moser XV. He wanted me to join him for a tasting of his top Chinese wines against what he saw as the competition, top Cabernets from around the world. He had put together four bottles of smart red bordeaux — the Lafite, plus Figeac 2018, Léoville Las Cases 2017 and Pontet-Canet 2017 — as well as the 2019 vintage of Napa Valley’s famous Opus One. These were to be compared with the first two vintages, 2016 and 2019, of his top Chinese wine made with Changyu Moser and two extremely expensive Cabernets made, respectively, by Ch Lafite and LVMH in China: Long Dai and Ao Yun.

The average retail prices per bottle cited by Wine-searcher.com are included in the box. I have only just looked these prices up and find them quite amazing — especially those for the Chinese wines, which have no real track record. And it’s interesting to see confirmation that top Napa Valley Cabernets now cost more than many of Bordeaux’s most famous wines. No wonder the Bordeaux merchants are currently so keen to add them to their portfolios.