Wine news Bordeaux and China June 2012

Red Obsession, which started filming during en primeur in Bordeaux in April 2011, features wine commentators and producers from Oz Clarke and Steven Spurrier to Francis Ford Coppola and UK chat show supremo Michael Parkinson.

It purports to explore ‘the ascendancy of modern-day China through the prism of sky-rocketing prices of Bordeaux’, the producers say.

Filming on the all-Australian production took place over 14 months in China and Bordeaux, under the auspices of a three-man team: film producer and vigneron Warwick Ross, award-winning screen-writer David Roach and Andrew Caillard MW of auctioneers Langtons.

The film features interviews with winemakers, critics, journalists, MWs, chateau proprietors like Prince Robert of Luxembourg, owner of Chateau Haut-Brion, financial experts and many more.

Producers were also given access to the Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite) project in Shandong Province.

Caillard said, ‘Red Obsession is about the passion and obsession that Bordeaux’s ethereal wines can evoke in people andthe risks and opportunities they take in pursuit of their love for wine. It is a study of the human spirit and cultural perspectives, set against the aesthetic of the Bordeaux and Chinese landscapes as the European debt crisis and global uncertainty gather momentum.'

He added, ‘As an Australian production, we were able to observe the Bordeaux and China wine scenes without being caught up in the hyperbole. It has been an amazing journey.’

Red Obsession will be released by Lion Rock Films in late 2012 or early 2013 in Australia and New Zealand. A worldwide release will follow.