WineFuture HK: CavesMaître France (The Chinese Castel) – the exclusive sponsor for the Grand Tastings

Pancho Campo MW@the start of his Grand Tasting dwarfed by CavesMaître France logo

Daniel Li and his company, CavesMaître France, had the exclusivity for the three Grand Tastings held during WineFuture Hong Kong 2011 – this ensuring maximum exposure as well as a place for Danieol Li on the top table for Robert Parker's Magical 20 tasting. There appear to be no other sponsors' names or logos on view. The three tastings featured Campo, Jancis Robinson MW and Robert Parker. The backdrop for all three tastings was dominated by the CavesMaître logo along with their Chinese symbols – 卡斯特 – meaning Castel. Li and his company own the trademark Castel in China. Quite why CaveMaître has appended France to its name is unclear. Certainly the company's European name appears to be at considerable variance with their Chinese one.

   Jancis Robinson MW presenting her Grand Tasting with CavesMaître above her

Presentation@the end of Robinson's tasting: 卡斯特 (Castel) dominating
 

Similar for Robert Parker with 卡斯特 (Castel) dominating

In contrast to the Grand Tastings the CavesMaître logo was much more discreet for the other events such as the panels or the press conferences where it was one of a number of other logos.

Press conference: Jancis Robinson MW, Pancho Campo MW and Francis Ford Coppola

A number of sponsors' names displayed 

Tim Atkin MW – panel with Steven Spurrier, Michel Rolland, Michel Bettane and Randall Grahm

CavesMaître logo is evident but one of a number of sponsors including ARAEX 

   

Given the prominence of the 卡斯特 (Castel) CavesMaître France logo for the Grand Tastings did not Pancho Campo MW owe a duty of care to both Jancis Robinson MW and Robert Parker to check out such a prominent sponsor before giving them the exclusivity for the Grand Tastings?

 Robert Parker greeting Daniel Li of 卡斯特 (Castel) CavesMaître France at the Magical 20 Grand Tasting
 

What did Pancho Campo MW know about Li and his company and what did he tell Parker?

  

“Here's another nice mess you've gotten me into Poncho!”

Photo credits: many thanks to WineFuture Hong Kong 2011: www.winefuture.hk

**

The Drinks Business has declared the Pancho Campo MW and the 'Miller Circus' as one of their 10 ten stories of 2011. It's in at No 8. http://www.thedrinksbusiness.com/2011/12/top-10-drinks-stories-of-2011/9/

'8. Campo in the dock

As the year draws to a close, a scandal currently holds the wine industry in thrall.

The Institute of Masters of Wine (IMW) announced in December that it was opening an investigation into the conduct of Pancho Campo MW following allegations the president and founder of The Wine Academy of Spain charged Spanish wineries up to €40,000 for a visit from Jay Miller of The Wine Advocate.'

CavesMaître FRANCE: Questions to Ezequiel Franco

CavesMaître France: Robert Parker presenting his Magical 20

I had hoped to be able to post answers to my questions to Ezequil Franco of CavesMaître. Unfortunately, although he invited me send him questions and provide 'all the answers', I'm haven't as yet received a response. I hope it will soon be possible to post Franco's responses. 

These are the questions I sent him yesterday morning:   

Dear Ezequiel

Many thanks for the invitation to ask questions and to give me all the answers.

Questions on CavesMaître, France

The company

a) When was the company name CavesMaître registered?

b) Why does the name of the company include France? Is the company also registered in France or does the company have offices there?

c) You say:

'Our company is in latin words CAVESMAITRE and in Chinese is 卡斯特'

Although my Chinese is strictly zero, CavesMaître appears to translates as 酒窖大师, which to my untutored eye looks rather different from the above which does translate as Castel –卡斯特'.

Are you misinformed here or is there some explanation that I’m missing?

d) Did the company have any previous names? If so what were they and when were they registered?

e) Has CavesMaître under its current name or previous names ever had an association or worked with Castel Frères/Groupe Castel? 

f) What was the annual turnover of CavesMaître in 2010 and 2009? Either under the CavesMaître name or any previous names?

g) Could you give me details of the brands and companies whose wines CavesMaître import into China. 

h) Did the company or Daniel Li ever register ‘Rioja’ as a trade name in China?

i) What other trade names have been registered by CavesMaître or Daniel Li?

CavesMaître, WineFuture HongKong and Pancho Campo MW

a) When did you first meet Pancho Campo and when did Campo first meet Daniel Li?

b) Was Campo informed of this year’s court case that involved Castel Frères? If he was informed when was this?

c) If he wasn’t informed why was this?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Many thanks

Jim 

***

A Google search produces the following undated tweet from Pancho Campo MW. It would be interesting to know what Franco told Campo about CavesMaître France. 

1.     Twitter / Pancho Campo: Thanks to Caves Maitre and ...

twitter.com/MadwineTV/status/129595696662839298

Thanks to Caves Maitre and my buddy Ezequiel Franco I am learning SOOO much about China. Amazing country. #WFHK11.

WineFuture HK: CavesMaître – 'one of the most important importer-distributor of wines in China'

Robert Parker@The Magical 20 and CavesMaître, FRANCE

Daniel Li (CavesMaître FRANCE), Robert Parker and Pancho Campo MW

 

 Pancho Campo MW with group on stage with CavesMaître logo in pride of place  

Last Thursday I posted a story – 'WineFuture HK: major sponsor – CavesMaître – 'a stolen tradename'. CavesMaître, FRANCE was one of the major sponsors of WineFutureHK. This year the company took legal action against Groupe Castel for using the tradename 'Castel', which CavesMaîte (or the company under a previous name) had registered a number of years before in China.

Robert Parker sat underneath a logo CavesMaître FRANCE during his magical 20 tasting, the highlight of WineFutureHK. Daniel Li, boss of CavesMaître, sat on Parker's right on top table with Pancho Campo MW on his left (see top photo).

This morning I received the following comment from Ezequiel Franco, who works for CavesMaître. Franco claims that I'm entirely mistaken. However, it would appear that he may have confused two sets of Chinese symbols.       

'Ezequiel Franco said...

Dear Jim Loire. My name is Ezequiel Franco I am from Spain and I am 27 years old. I am the foreigner working in CAVESMAITRE with Daniel Li in Shanghai in China. I am so upset with what I just read in your blog cause it is so far away from the reality and you are trying to hurt us. I strongly believe that when somebody talk about other people to an audiencie must be sure what he is saying, because can go against law, everybody must be responsible of his acts and words. I am not going to start a fight in this blog I am only going to writte this comment. I invite to you to contact us (contact me unless you can speak chinese) and It will be a pleasure to inform you and give you all the answers to you, to put down all what you wrote. Our company is in latin words CAVESMAITRE and in Chinese is 卡斯特, we are not "stoling" (like you said) any brand. So please not defame more our brand and our team. Our company is one of the most important importer-distributor of wines in China and my boss DANIEL LI, has an excellent HONOR and REPUTATION in China and rest of world.'

**

I posted two follow up comments: 

'Thank you for your comment. I will certainly send you an email with some questions. I'm intrigued that the company is called CavesMaître, France. Is it registered in France or are their offices in France?'

**

Ezequiel 

You would appear to be misinformed:

'Our company is in latin words CAVESMAITRE and in Chinese is 卡斯特'
Although my Chinese is strictly zero, CavesMaître appears to translates as 酒窖大师, which to my untutored eye looks rather different from the above (卡斯特) which does translate as Castel.

 **

I have accepted Ezequiel Franco's kind invitation to contact him and ask questions. I look forward to his replies. In the meantime I would be very grateful for any further information about CavesMaître and Daniel Li. Although CavesMaître is apparently 'one of the most important importer-distributor of wines in China', I can find curiously little about neither the company nor Daniel Li on the internet.  

 Daniel Li and Robert Parker – hope the great man isn't signing away the rights to his name in China!

Time for a caption contest perhaps?


**

Rober Parker Grand Tasting (above and below) from Madwine

I see Campo continues to insist on calling the great man – Rober Parker. Revenge, perhaps, for Robert calling him Poncho?*   

  Photo credits: WineFuture Hong Kong www.winefuture.hk

*20.12.11. The t has now been added to Rober on Madwine TV. 

WineFuture HK: major sponsor - CavesMaître – the Chinese 'Castel' – 'a stolen tradename'

Robert Parker presenting 'The Magical 20' – CavesMaître, France is rather less magical

Anyone watching Robert Parker's very impressive presentation of the 20 Bordeaux wines from the 2009 vintage will have seen the name and logo of Caves Maître, France looming large behind him. CavesMaître was one of the major sponsors of WineFutureHK and Daniel Li of CavesMaître sat on the right of Parker for the Grand Tasting.

However, it would appear that the business practices of CavesMaître are much sharper than speakers like Robert Parker and Jancis Robinson MW might wish to be associated with. In western eyes CavesMaître has stolen the trademark of Groupe Castel, the Bordeaux giant, although their action is perfectly legal in China as under Chinese trademark law it is 'first come first served'.  Jancis Robinson MW has assured me she knew nothing of this history and I guess that Parker did not either.

Daniel Li of CavesMaître@WineFuture Hong Kong
Pancho Campo on far right

A search on Google reveals that CavesMaître used to be called Wenzhou Castel (based in Wenzhou) before changing their name to Caves Maître sometime this year. It will also show that this Chinese company trademarked the name Castel. Recently Wenzhou Castel brought a successful court case in China against French company Castel Frères, which is now a leading player in the Chinese market with case sales believed to be around one million. Although French Castel did register their trademark in China on 21st November 2007. Unfortunately they were too late as Wenzhou Castel had got in first with: (“Ka Si Te (卡斯特)”) – meaning Castel in Chinese.

  

From Frost Brown Todd website article here that gives details of the case:

 

November 10, 2011

French Wine “Castel” Mark – An Interesting Case to Decipher

A recent move by a local court in Wenzhou, China may well indicate that in the future a lawsuit against a foreign brand owner in China could cause the foreign defendant to lose its valuable trademarks if it loses the case.  Earlier this year a local Chinese merchant sued a famous French wine producer in the Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court and successfully secured an “ex-parte” relief, by which, the defendant’s valuable trademark would be subject to freeze until the case is decided. Defendant in this case is Castel Group, which is the owner of the “Castel” trademark in China. However, the Chinese plaintiff had managed to register the Chinese “Ka Si Te (卡斯特)” mark first in China, a phonetic translation of the famous “Castel” mark. It sued Castel Group in the Wenzhou local court on three accounts of infringement and requested damages up to US$31 million. 

What makes this case unique is not the case itself, but the court’s decision to freeze the Castel Group’s valuable “Castel” trademark at the initial stage of the lawsuit until the case is decided.  Chinese civil procedures offer plaintiffs, in some situations, an ex-parte temporary relief, to prevent defendants from transferring property and money during the course of a case.  Normally such relief has been taken the form of freezing bank accounts or real property (by appointing a conservator).    In this case, what the court did directly touched on Castel Group’s  intangible assets, meaning that the “Castel” mark cannot be licensed or assigned to any third party while the case is pending. More importantly, the “Castel” mark may be subject to auction if the court decides in favor of the local Chinese trader and Castel Group otherwise does not comply with the court’s order requiring it to pay damages.

Our colleagues at ZY Partners in Beijing pointed out that this case could start another round of problems especially for companies that do not have significant assets in China. Such companies used to be less concerned about litigation risks in China.  However, even they very often have trademarks or other intangible assets in China.  Now they could face risks of losing their valuable intellectual property (trademarks or even patents) if they end up losing legal battles in China. The flipped side of the story is that foreign plaintiffs may find this new development helpful when they seek to recover damages against Chinese defendants. 

(“Ka Si Te (卡斯特)”)

CavesMaître's website is here. They have a page of legal notices which includes their right under Chinese law to use the name Castel – “Ka Si Te (卡斯特)”. Many of the wines sold by this company use 卡斯特 in the name. Whether CavesMaître's Chinese are aware that these wines are from the 'Chinese' Castel rather than the better known Castel Frères is an interesting question. 

One might also ask whether Pancho Campo MW was aware of the history behind CavesMaître. If he wasn't then surely he failed to do his due diligence properly. If he was aware of the trademark history, why did not he inform his speakers.

Jancis Robinson MW with Daniel Li of CavesMaître

Jancis Robinson MW told me that "While I was at WineFuture Hong Kong I had no clue about this. It was only on my return to the UK that I became aware. I did think though it was all a bit odd with the whole stage festooned with CavesMaître signs and logos as nobody seemed to know about this company. Pancho had made it out to be a big coup getting a Chinese company as a sponsor – insisting that the real future was dealing with Chinese companies rather than European ones." 

I suspect that Robert Parker was equally in the dark.
 
This episode surely shows how foolish it can be to rush into China without doing your due diligence and equally making sure that you register your trade mark in China.      

Wine Future: the million euro typo + some further reflections on Murciagate

Thong Kong Tourism Board

Just occasionally one is left open-mouthed with admiration at the brilliance of an organisation ....! This I understand is the opening page to the catalogue for WineFuture Hong Kong – an event that cost a million euros to put on. Small wonder that every cash strapped and impoverished Spanish DO is beating their way to the gates of the Wine Academy of Spain in Marbella to implore Dr Pancho Campo MW and his peerless academy to come and help them, especially if he is accompanied by Jay Miller plus hopefully a spell checker...

**

Sadly I have not had any response to my enquiries about the fee that Jay Miller is due to receive for his master class in Murcia on 26th November. However, I may be able to help. We know that Miller was paid $15,000 for his master class in Navarra where the total cost was estimated to have been 100,000 euros. The total cost in Murcia is 29,000 euros, so if we assume that Miller's master class fee is a similar proportion of the total then he should be set to receive $4350 for his presentation of 12 wines. Using the same calculation he would have received $3000 had the 20,000€ trip to Vinos de Madrid gone ahead assuming that the programme included a master class by Miller.

**

Asevin's statement: 5th November 2011

Relating to the planning for the visit of Jay Miller, the emails sent by Jiménez and Teresa Torres during October are not only at variance with the above but the idea that:

'Asevin's proposal to TWA to visit Murcia arises from the interest of wineries in the area, which form part of our association, in receiving Jay Miller's opinion about Jumilla, and in learning better insight into the US and Asian markets.'

is laughable. Even given that Doctor Pancho Campo MW and Jay Miller have unrivalled insights into the Chinese and US markets respectively, they are hardly going to blow 29,000 euros on an hour long seminar. No, what the bodegas had been promised was an official visit from Miller to rate and report on their wines in The Wine Advocate.