High-end wine, lifestyle monthly launches in English, Chinese

A high-end monthly magazine and website available in English and Chinese titled "Le Pan" launched in France's wine mecca Bordeaux on Monday at the world's biggest wine fair, Vinexpo.

Based in Hong Kong, the wine-focused glossy will be destined for monied globe-trotters and will be headed by Asia's first Master of Wine, Jeannie Cho Lee, reflecting the region's growing taste for wine and luxury living.

The Korean CEO did not give the size of the investment in the magazine, which is titled after the Greek god of nature as well as its owner, Hong Kong businessman Pan Sutong.

Dominated by wine content, but also touching on food, fashion and architecture, the large-format magazine of 200 pages is destined to "sophisticated" readers, said Lee, who won her prestigious wine title in 2008.

Six others wine masters and wine specialists are on the magazine's editorial staff, which has 42 permanent contributors and aims to cover the world's major wine regions with the accent on rare vintages and luxury living.

It is published by LPM Communications Limited, a subsidiary of the Goldin group headed by Pan, which has interests in electronic goods, real estate, horse-breeding, wine and financial services.

The magazine's English-language edition will be available in 35 cities from New York to Napa, London, Paris and Milan, with the Chinese edition sold in 22 cities.

The website (www.lepanmedia.com) is to have a database including 10,000 wine reviews. The paper edition will be available also in first-class airport lounges, top hotels, leading wine shops and select newsagents.