First Growths-only store to open in Taipei

A First Growths-only retailer is due to open in Taipei – the first of 10 similar shops to be rolled out by the end of 2012.

Bordeaux Winebank directors Simons Wong and Henning Thoresen

The first of the stores – called Impériale Bordeaux – will open on June 30.

Run by Bordeaux Wine Bank (BWB), and will offer only the five 1855 First Growths, plus Chateau d’Yquem, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Chateau Ausone and Pétrus.

The stores will concentrate on older, pre-2000, vintages, going back initially to 1945. All wine will be directly from chateau cellars, or from BWB stocks. All bottles will be certified ex-chateau, BWB owner Henning Thoresen told Decanter.com.

‘As prices of these chateaux head higher, provenance is becoming non-negotiable – and the chateaux themselves are becoming ever more careful about who can assure this for the customer.’

The store marks a shift upwards from BWB’s first retail offering, a tasting gallery in Bordeaux called Max Bordeaux which offers 48 classified wines by the glass.

This chain is also due for expansion, with 50 tasting galleries planned over the next five years.

The next ones will open in Taipei on June 30, Beijing, Shanghai and Tokyo by the end of 2011, then New York and London next year.

These will also be the sites (along with Bordeaux itself) for the further Impériale Bordeaux stores, BWB says.

Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux