Drinking in success

Frenchman's bet on China pays off

A romantic gesture by Frenchman Alexander Cros won the heart of his fellow business-course student and ultimately led him to forge a new and flourishing career on the other side of the world, in China's fast-growing wine industry.

Cros met Wu Shaoting while they were taking an international business course in the wine region capital of Bordeaux. After chatting to his fellow student, Cros was smitten and began plotting ways to woo her.

He says: "I checked with her friends who told me she likes chocolate cake, so I went to the bakery and bought one and planned a picnic for her in the park. She was very impressed.

"You need to work on love - for example I like to plan surprises for her: the other week I picked her up after work and took her to Maison Boulud in Beijing for a gourmet dinner."

Cros can afford to splash the cash on such treats now. He has a job heading up the Beijing office of China Wines and Spirits, a distributor that has seen rapid expansion during the past few years.

Had he stayed in France after graduating from business school instead of hotfooting it straight to China, the young manager would likely have been firmly stuck on the very first rung of the corporate ladder.

Or, worse still, had he taken up the offer of a job in New York back in 2007, he would more than likely have been out of work the following year when the financial crisis hit.

He says: "I was in charge of an office here in China at 25 - in France it would not be possible, you would be considered not to know enough, and to be too young. You would be doing photocopying. Here in China it is based on ability; if you are good, the company will hire you.

"I am planning to stay here longer. France is a beautiful country with a great lifestyle, the food is great and I love my country but what I love about China is that it is like living the American Dream."

Not that China has all been plain sailing. The new arrival's first job in the wine industry was not a positive experience - but his career began to flourish after joining CWS in 2009, a time that coincided with an explosion of interest in wine, particularly among local Chinese.

During those three years, sales have rocketed, with further healthy growth of up to 150 per cent for this year.

As well as affordable everyday wines, the company has a portfolio of sought-after grand cru labels. In total, CWS represents 400 wines and spirits from 28 different vineyards and distilleries.

Brisk CWS business means that instead of running errands, or re-arranging the filing cabinets at a company in regional France, ever-busy Cros is being asked to organize wine dinners for prestigious Bordeaux producers.

Needless to say, the people attending tend to be local Chinese, individuals who have the financial reserves to order a case or two without worrying too much about the cost.

"We have Chinese customers who want classified growths, an area we started in recently," Cros says.

"The other month I was in Dalian and met with rich people from a VIP wine club and they really wanted to understand wines. For more than two hours we conducted tastings with them.

"A few years ago there was nothing there. Now it is not just Beijing and Shanghai, it is the other cities where people are interested and want to understand different wines, not just Chateau Lafite.

"A lot of people who are interested in wine are Chinese who have been abroad and speak English and understand wine. There is also the younger generation who don't want to drink their parents' baijiu (white spirit) or beer. They want to try something different."

Around half of the CWS portfolio is French, with strong representation from Italy and Argentina. The company is a subsidiary of the Bordeaux-based group H Partners, which has operations throughout Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, South Korea, Kazakhstan and Russia, with an annual turnover of 60 million euros.

Being a national of the country that produces the world's most sought-after wines does Cros no harm, of course, when peddling his wares.

The Lyon native combines a natural charm and enthusiasm with a formidable in-depth knowledge of wine, learned mostly from his oenophile father, Jeanne Pierre.

"When I was younger, I was drinking table wine for lunch and I didn't like it," Cros says. "Then, over time, I tried better wines and I began to understand more.

"Every Sunday when my dad was cooking lunch we started with champagne as aperitif, then white or red with the main courses, mostly Rhone Valley, Burgundy and Bordeaux. Wines are really part of my family culture."

When not working, Cros and his events-manager future wife are planning their next-year wedding, which will feature receptions in her home city of Nanchang in the south, and also in his native France.

In order to impress his future in-laws and relatives with the wedding-banquet speech, Cros is trying to cram in Chinese lessons - not so easy with a busy business schedule that also involves traveling to cities all across the north of China.

"Here in China, if you are willing to work hard anything is possible," he says.

"My first experience was not so good, but I did not want to be a loser so I stayed. If I had gone back to France, everyone would have said 'I told you so.'

"When I joined CWS we were starting from nothing and growth has been crazy. It is great! As well as enjoying the job, I have made many friends through work."

China Daily

(China Daily 10/05/2012 page28)