Decanter World Wine AwardsBordeaux chateaux boycott Chinese names poster
- Thursday 1 March 2012
Last week Christie’s announced it would publish a poster showing Chinese names for nearly all the 61 chateaux of the 1855 classification.
Although this is not the first time it has been done – Ch’ng Poh Tiong, Decanter columnist and publisher of the Singapore Wine Review, set up a phonetic translation system in 2008 – Christie’s head of wine for China, Simon Tam, implied it was official, with written approval from all but a handful of properties.
Now the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855, as well as a number of chateaux, are refusing to have anything to do with the poster, claiming they did not approve the translations.
The issue of trademarks in China is fraught with pitfalls, they say, with many names awaiting approval from the Chinese authorities.
‘This is a very sticky subject at the moment, and no one has the right to officially make any statement until all our requests and the registration have been confirmed by the Chinese office of trademarks,’ Philippe Delfaut, managing director of Chateau Kirwan told Decanter.com.
Delfaut has boycotted the poster, and Sylvain Boivert, director of the 1855 Classification, told Decanter.com he had the names of at least 17 chateaux that had not given their approval.
Boivert also said the 1855 had given approval ‘for the [Christie’s] catalogue, not for the poster’.
Speaking from Singapore, Tam insisted he had never said this was an official translation.
Moreover, he said, the situation was 'a misunderstanding' due to the fact Christie’s had appended the Chinese characters for the word ‘chateau’ to the approved names, making them two to three characters longer and therefore unfamiliar.
Corinne Conroy, marketing director at Chateau Brane Cantenac, accepted this explanation but said, ‘Nonetheless, we did not wish for the name to look longer. On the contrary, we have been advised by our various importers to keep our Chinese name as short as possible so that it would be easier for the customers to read and remember. This is why we chose the three-character translation that I recommended.’
Tam told Decanter.com he appreciated it is ‘a touchy subject’ but he would not withdraw the poster, of which 500 had been printed to be distributed to the chateaux for en primeur week on 1 April.
Have your say!
John Sherwin
March 03 14:39
Were Christies naive or disingenuous in trying to corner the market on Chinese translation?
The ideal translation combines phonetic similarity and 'good' meaning. Coca Cola is a beautiful example, the Chinese 'kekou kele' meaning 'can mouth [drink] can [have] pleasure'.
If you can't 'do a Coke' then at least have a 'good' meaning.
Johnny Chan
March 02 10:18
Like making wine translating any name into Chinese is an art. There are many combinations and variations in achieving the task.
The most admirable way is to be able to include the actual meaning of the name with phonetic translation.
There are other considerations that the Chinese version may have nothing to do with the phonetic translation at all such as the symbol on the label, the owner, the historical name, or names already used customary, etc, etc...
There are already excellent examples of Chinese translations like Lynch-Bages, Château Beychevelle, Chateau Angelus just to name a few.
In China or in the Chinese tradition rather there is a saying that if you have a wrong name it is almost like carrying an oman.
However, don't be discouraged as after 20 years we are still trying to have a Chinese name for Chardonnay that everyone would be using.
In vino veritas.
Johnny Chan
Founder - 1421 Wines
Marcus Ford
March 02 09:15
Interestingly enough the Chinese version of RVF also has a pull-out poster of the 1855 classification this month. The names are not consistent with Christies version. Chinese trademark laws are a bit crazy in that it is first come first served for registering a name. The Chateaux themselves may not be in a position to use either version if a Chinese company has beaten them to it with the registration
Jac
March 02 08:17
Maybe the debate is somewhere else.
Issue doesn't seem to be the Château names on a Christies poster, but the contrary !
Why whould a commercial name (Christies) appear on an official Château poster ?
Châteaux won't officially privilege one wine merchant between others, as they need all of them to promote their wines.