SMASHING A €12,000 ALSACE BOTTLE TO PROMOTE CHINESE VINES
From JESSICA ELGOT | THE HUFFINGTON POST UK | August 30, 2012
A Chinese wine connoisseur has brought a new meaning to getting smashed — by throwing a €12,000 bottle of French Alsace wine on the floor at a high-end wine festival in Changli.
The mysterious unnamed wine aficionado, who was pictured looking stern beneath reflective aviator sunglasses, smashed the bottle in a show of patriotism, hoping the stunt will show that supporting Chinese-produced wine is « priceless » — according to local media reports.
The Beijing-based bidder bought two bottles of French famous Alsace white wine for around €12,000 each at a wine festival in Changli, a wine-producing region in northern China. He smashed one of the bottles on the ground for a stunt, leaving many to speculate it was a ruse to jack up the price of the other bottle, or just shameless attention-seeking. The wine was Emile Beyer Grand Cru Pfersigberg 2007 (photos below), a late harvest white wine from Domaine Emile Beyer in Alsace. According to Wine Searcher the same Emile Beyer Gewurztraminer Vendanges Tardives, vintage 2009, would be going for a thousand times less, at €13 a bottle.
