COFCO partners with James Suckling

China’s state-owned wine merchant COFCO has just inked an exclusive agreement with wine critic James Suckling, which allows COFCO to translate and use Suckling’s tasting notes, videos and tasting reports for wine sale and education in mainland China, the merchant has announced.

According to the agreement, COFCO will also introduce James Suckling’s wine event – Great Wines of the World – to mainland China in November this year. The exact location hasn’t been revealed yet.

“JamesSuckling.com believes in China as the most important wine market in the world. We believe that this exclusive partnership with COFCO to disseminate our content in Chinese –particularly tasting notes – will help better inform consumers and trade of the best wines available as well as grow the premium segment of the market. Reports from Bordeaux will initially be our main focus but Italy, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Spain and other wine countries will soon follow,” the wine critic commented on the partnership.

The critic has most recently released his scores on 2016 Bordeaux barrel samples and hailed the vintage “a Left Bank year”.

The cooperation is expected to help promote wine education and popularise wine culture in China, added Castle Li, general manager of COFCO Wine & Spirits. “We can yield better results in terms of wine education and culture doing half the work”, said the executive, referring to a Chinese idiom ‘’事半功倍”. “This is one of the most important reasons for us to partner with James Suckling”.