GLN, Llinks bring grapes of Roth to Shandong

Alexandre Dumas once said that "wine is the intellectual part of the meal". Famous French vineyard Domaines Baron de Rothschild (DBR) today is seeing wine as an intelligent investment in China, where the consumption of wine is expected to reach 1.1 billion bottles a year by 2011, double the figure of 2007.

DBR, the parent company of Chateau Lafite, has established a joint venture with China International Trust and Investment Company (CITIC) to develop 25 hectares of vineyards on the Penglai Peninsula in Shandong province, an area regarded as one of the most promising for the industry in terms of both its climatic and geological conditions.

Paris headquartered Gide Loyrette Nouel (GLN) and Shanghai firm Llinks advised DBR on all legal aspects of the joint venture. GLN's team consisted of partner Guillaume Rougier-Brierre and senior associates Guillaume Jeannet and Jiang Chuan, all based in Beijing.

"As China's market for fine wines grows rapidly and French winemakers continue to make inroads into this market, we are hoping to be involved in more transactions in the wine industry," said Jiang Chuan.

A large number of foreign winemakers have already entered the China market, but the joint venture will see one of the first foreign winemakers to plant vineyards and produce wine in China. This ground-breaking joint venture brought about some challenges for the legal advisors to overcome, such as the negotiation between an industry player and a strategic and financial investor, and the obtaining of the rights to use farmland from the local government.