Legacy Wine and Spirits International Ltd. (LWSP:0.52, -0.02, -3.7%) reports that the Company's container carrying nine varietals of California wine has left the Port of Oakland and is destined for the shelves of the Company's wine outlet/showroom facility in TEDA, Tianjin, China.

Jim Galtieri, head of Pasternak Wine Importers, described the combination of recent economic events such as the sub-prime mortgage crises, concerns about the economy, lower interest rates, rising oil prices and a weak US dollar as a perfect storm and said we are all wearing foul weather gear. "Both wine and spirits are somewhat impervious to the economy. People drink in good times and they drink in bad times," added Galtieri, who has been in the wine business for more than 30 years.

Recently, California wine giant Gallo Wineries made a strategic corporate decision to move into the emerging Chinese wine market. "We're starting to make an effort into China. We think there's terrific potential over there," said Joseph E. Gallo of Gallo Wineries, who recently returned from China. "We would ship our cases over there and have people distribute it. That's our current plan." The Chinese, Gallo believes, "could become big wine drinkers because they seem to be very open-minded. They have some wine already (but they) want to adapt more to the Western styles."

Company President Marc Scheive states, "The recognition by an industry giant like Gallo Wineries in the burgeoning wine market in China further adds to the Company's confidence that we are in the right place at the right time and with the right product."