Interview Winery Owner
Capture themoment and dream big

CHEN Li Zhong , Founder & CEO of Tian Sai Winery, Xin Jiang, CHINA

From Judge to Winery Owner, Chen Li Zhong has been following her dream to craft top quality Chinese wines from scratch in a deserted place. To her, wine is a vehicle to connect people, land, emotions and art.

She has been constantly pushing the limits and embracing the changes in her career. The name of Tian Sai was borrowed from lens Tessar, given by Ms. Chen, as a photography amateur.

Ms. Chen has been very hands-on since the day one when Tian Sai started to plan and build. Regarded as one of the most influential female winery owners in China, she also devoted herself in lots of philanthropy projects and research funding. Ms. Chen was awarded as “the wine figure of the year” by RVF in 2016 and “the most influential winery owner of China” by China Wine Power List in 2020.

Q：How many years have you been in Wine & Spirits business?

A：10 years since I started to build Tian Sai.

Q：What makes you devoted yourself in the wine sector?

A : I was a wine lover before creating Tian Sai. To me, wine has magic power to transport us to a different world. After tasting a great wine with friends, the idea came cross to me: to create a wine by myself. That’ll be my ultimate dream of perfect and accomplished life.

Q：What are the main transformation & changes in the industry you have experienced so far?

A：The change has been tremendous in the last decade. Chinese wines are more diversified and get attention. More local wineries, throughout different regions are seeking for identities of soils, while more limelight and recognition on qualities improvement followed. The international awards that Chinese wines achieved are proof. Meanwhile, Chinese consumers get to know our wines better and become more open and adventurous toward local wines.

Q：What you enjoyed most in your career? The biggest challenge you have encountered as a woman in the industry and how did you overcome it? What drives you keep going?

A: The most rewarding thing is that Tian Sai has reached our goal and blue print that we set 10 years ago. For men and women, the challenge of facing unknown situation is the same. I was running a taxi company before entering into wine business. The constant learning is essential but I still remember the excitement and joy when I saw the first blossoming vine. How to keep the vines healthy? How to make constant quality year after year? These drive me to continue my work.

Q：What are the main distinguishing merits / qualities in women attributing to the career success?

A: The persistence, the inner strength and “soft” approach in women are helpful for career, to me.

Q：Any Advice to your peers?

A：”The land is worth to work for and fight for”, as per the quote in . We shall keep independent, and work for what we believe in. Be down-to-earth, love our land.

Q：Who will you recommend us to interview as the next WWS figure?

A: Madame Lalou-Bize Leroy. Her meticulous vineyard management, and quest for excellence is an inspiration and revelation.

Q：There are always some myth regarding “female palate” or “Chinese palate”，what are your opinions?

A: According to the study and published survey, women tend to have more sensitive palates than men. Women can identify the nuances of tastes more easily and more willing to express what they perceived in the food. There have been lots of female winemakers, Masters of Wines who achieved remarkably in the wine business. Our winemaker is also a woman from Australia’s wine family.

Q：The cost of wine in the Chinese market is relatively high, and there are fewer experiences to learn from. What difficulties and challenges did you encounter in the process? What motivated you to persevere?

A：It’s a long-term commitment to build a winery in China. With other investors, we planned the 1st phase as 9 years and half. What encouraged us is the profitability in the 8th year. We were very young compared to those wineries in foreign countries. What we learnt through our practice is to let nature dictates and we adjust accordingly. We had loss during a hurricane and other unfavorable climates, but these are the inevitable learnings too.

With the new wave of China pride, Tian Sai wines have been selected as the representatives of Chinese wines. Our wines have won over 200 awards in many international wine competitions, and listed as the only Chinese wine in Starbucks and presented at Nobel Prize winner’s dinner in Hong Kong. These recognitions affirmed our belief in the future of Chinese wines.

Q：What do you think of the future development of Chinese wineries? What strategies and plans have you made for Chinese wine going global, and what attempts have you made? For example, the friendship between the winery and the community?

A: Chinese wines will have great potential. I also serve as the President of Yan Qi Wine Association, and am very glad to lead the region to explore more opportunities for the community. We helped in setting up scholarships for students, and funding / helping certain rural areas. Our winery provides over 2300 job opportunities every year, to support the economic growth in West China.

Q：Let’s share some insights on female leadership. As the owner of the winery, what experience have you summed up in the work of recruiting, managing and promoting the winery?

A: Women, in general, paid more attention to details and caring. The traits of nurturance , doing good for others definitely brought in a slightly different perspective for management. We had built dormitories for 30 couples who worked in our vineyards and gave them a piece of vegetable garden to grow, this is part of the plan to help our staff settled down.

Regarding the marketing and promotion, we tried different campaigns to associate our wines with arts and sports, from event sponsorship to customized label, we try to be close to our target consumers.