LeDomduVin: Bordeaux 1855 Classification Chateaux Names with Chinese Translations

Bordeaux 1855 Classification 

Chateaux Names with Chinese Translations

By browsing the Internet, I realized that, despite the list produced by Christie's, revealed first and exclusively by Decanter on February 24th, 2012 (read the article here), and officially unveiled shortly after during the "En Primeur" campaign, no other list includes Bordeaux Chateaux names with Chinese translations in English-written websites or French for that matter (as far as I could see).

 Christie's first-ever standardized Chinese translation of Bordeaux's classified growths
Picture courtesy of Christie's / Decenter

Yet, if you browse Chinese websites, you will find various listings of Bordeaux Chateaux names (and other notorious wineries from other regions) translated into Chinese.

The problem is that although the list produced by Christie's has been approved by most of the listed Classified Growths, Christie's list is "NOT" official per se. Even nowadays, five years later, this list still has not yet been fully embraced by all people of the trade in Asia (other Auction Houses, Wine Merchants, Brokers, Wholesalers, Importers, Distributors, etc.) as the official and/or "go-to" list for Chinese translated Chateaux names.

That is because, in Hong Kong for example, they have their own way to translate these names, as they primarily speak Cantonese (even if most also speak Mandarin/Putonghua). And in China, it is even worst, as they have various translations that also differ from Christie's list depending whether you are in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou or Shenzhen for example.

However, although Christie's list could have been taken as "THE" reference list and embraced for what it was created for, which is to allow everybody to speak the same language and write these names the same way, the reality in China is far more complex regarding how people agree to translate them.

In any case, it seems that in China in general (including Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai, and Singapore), there is a consensus on at least 2 variants to translate these Chateaux names that are understood, recognized, and used by most people in the trade—variants that obviously and not surprisingly slightly differ from Christie's list.

Even my colleagues at work said that Christie's list is erroneous and that people in China may not necessarily fully understand or comprehend Christie's translations, and will write some of them quite differently.

No wonder why everybody's lost in translation if Bordeaux Chateaux names can be written in 3 different ways when translated into Chinese... (sigh)

However, as I couldn't find a list including these 2 variants on English or French websites, I decided to compile them into a list so that the Western world would have access to them (and to realize at the same time that Christie's list of translated Bordeaux Classified Growths is not entirely satisfactory or sufficient in the Chinese world).

Here is my compilation of the "Bordeaux 1855 Classification with Chinese Translations" (including the 2 variants) as accepted, understood, and used in China and the Chinese-speaking Asian market in general.

FYI: To those of you who might not trust this list of Chinese names coming from a French-American "Gweilo" like me ("Gweilo or Gwailou" or "鬼佬" in Chinese literally means "Foreign Devil" - a historically common insult, with slightly racist nuances depending on the context, still used to designate the white Europeans / Caucasians in Hong Kong and China) and in order to add credibility to this list, (and as I work for a Hong Kongese / Chinese company run the Chinese way and employing 98% of Chinese people... yes, I'm one of the only very few "Gweilos" working for that company), I asked several of my co-workers (both Chinese and Hong Kongese) to confirm the meaning and writing of all the names in my list. And they all agree that both variants can be understood, used and written within mainland China and Hong Kong and that Chinese mainlanders are referring to those 2 variants as being the correct ones compared to those of Christie's list... (so if the Chinese say so, who am I to say the opposite.. 😉)

NB: Owners of the Chateaux included in the list below, do not be offended or alarmed (as I know you can be quite susceptible when it comes to the order of the name of your Chateau within the "1855 Classification" list...), I just sorted the list by alphabetical order within each rank (1st Growth, 2nd Growth, etc..) to make it easier to read.

Bordeaux 1855 Classification with Chinese Translations (compiled by LeDomduVin)

Bordeaux 1855 Classification with Chinese Translation
sorted by alphabetical order - Compiled by LeDomduVin 2017

As a picture will not help you to be able to "Cut and Paste" these translated names for customs documents, for example, or other uses, I put this "Bordeaux 1855 Classification with Chinese Translation sorted by alphabetical order - Compiled by LeDomduVin 2017" list

• in EXCEL format (click here) 
• in PDF formats (click here)

I hope it will help some of you. You never know, this list might come handy at some point. I know that I was looking for one available online and could not find any despite Christie's list (which, as stated above, is not necessarily correct, accepted or even embraced by the trade... hence the reason for this post..) and I'm sure that I'm not the only one.... 

I hope the people working in the trade, such as the Chateaux owners, the importers, distributors, merchants, and more especially the people doing logistics, freight, and shipping, and anyone else dealing with Chinese Customs, will find it useful.

In fact, I think that by combining Christie's List and my compilation list, people will surely find a translated Chateaux name that your Chinese importers/distributors could use depending on the context and the purpose.

And frankly, since the changing tastes of the burgeoning Chinese middle class and the surge of Chinese investing in and drinking more French wines since 2010, this list might be useful.

In 2014, China surpassed France as the biggest consumer of red wine. According to International Wine & Spirit Research, it will become the world's second-biggest consumer of wine by 2020, drinking 6.1bn liters, worth $21.7 bn, up 39.8% from 2016. (Source The Daily Telegraph / IWSR)

That's a lot of wine names to be translated into Chinese....😉

Voilà.....

That's all, folks, for today!

Santé,

And stay tuned for most posts...

And a big "THANK YOU" to all the readers, as your number has tremendously increased since I restarted writing on my blog a few months ago after nearly five years of barely any posts or activities on this page. I really appreciate it, and it inspires me to write more. Thank you.

Cheers! Santé!

Dom

LeDomduVin a.k.a Dominique Noël

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