Vino Business: The Cloudy World of French Wine

Already provoking debate and garnering significant attention in France and within the wine world, "Vino Business" is a surprising and eye-opening book about the dark side of French wine, by acclaimed investigative journalist Isabelle Saporta. While Bordeaux has been a bastion of winemaking tradition and excellence for centuries, in recent decades the industry has changed dramatically under the influence of large-scale international investors. French insurance companies, international fashion houses and Chinese businessmen are all speculating on the area s wines and land, some of whose value has increased tenfold in the last decade alone. Saporta investigates in detail the 2012 classification of the wines of Saint-Emilion, the most prestigious appellation of Bordeaux s right bank, which has come into disrepute, not least because the scoring system was changed in order to give points for a chateaux s lecture facilities and the size of its parking lot. A shocking expose of the French wine world, and a "cri de coeur" for the lost values of traditional winemaking, "Vino Business" pulls back the curtain on the secret domain of Bordeaux, a land ever more in thrall to the grapes of wealth."