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Event News, August 2020

LMM 15 years

08/08/2005: MY FIRST EVER VISIT TO CHINA AND TO CHANGYU

06/09/2015: START MISSION “BEST OF CHINA” & BELONGING IN THE COMPANY OF THE WORLD’S FINEST
What a journey / long march it was – and I do know it is just the beginning of something truly exciting/ FASCINATING. From the very first day in China I fell in LOVE with this country, its historic achievements and its people. And, it was a great woman, Mrs. Susan Tan, then and now head of export at Changyu Pioneer who greeted our small delegation in August 2005 with so much charm, wisdom and vision, that it did stick from the very beginning.
The first 10 years of cooperation were a bit like a “purgatory” situation: ups and downs, yet a steep learning curve (we tried it the conventional way first …wrong move), yet we all knew the moment will come to have the chance of putting CHINA on the INTERNATIONAL WINE MAP. The basis for our great results was the creation of a truly superb relationship with the people of Changyu and its leaders, Mr. Zhou (Chairman), Mr. Sun (CEO), Dr Li (head of oenology and production), Mrs. Tan and many, many more. And, only in the last 2 years I had the honor of visiting 28 CITIES in China to promote our vision of Chateau Changyu Moser XV getting to know better also the China setup of Changyu in China – beyond wine making and production – wow! Yes, I am a true fan and I honestly think there is a new land of opportunity and this has to be China (yap, I know … is it perfect – no, but who is?).
While we focused on sales and marketing of my first 10 years in China, neglecting strategic aspects of the business badly and paying not enough attention to the quality/ style of the wines, we did “THE RIGHT THING” EXACTLY 5 YEARS AGO. I still remember vividly Mr. Zhou, Mr. Sun and Mrs. Tan reminding myself of being a wine maker – which prompted the question: “WHY DON’T YOU MAKE THE WINES AT THE CHATEAU YOURSELF?”
From this very moment our vision showed traction as we had the “once in a life time” chance to start from zero and to wine: NEW wines/ quality – NEW labels/ brand architecture – NEW strategy – NEW purpose - NEW innovation – NEW great story – NEW energy based on learnings from the first 10 years.
Our 2015 defined PHILOSOPHY ON WINE MAKING: 1. powerful – not opulent 2. freshness and elegance 3. “some sex” (artsy elements) 4. sense of place 5. Perfect grape is king 6. bio dynamic (in the making) 7. bottle to look good 8. to be enjoyed without too much fuzz. This resulted in tangible progress on our vision: “BEST OF CHINA” & BELONGING IN THE COMPANY OF THE WORLD’S FINEST
Let me therefore thank all partners on this long journey – all my friends at Changyu, all our great and esteemed partners on the receiving end and our team at Lenz M. Moser Projects for their endurance, their belief to be part of something unique in the world of wine – the emergency of a new chateau, which is the leader of its proud country – in surprising our customers / the consumers on a daily basis via discovery of something entirely NEW and unexpected.
We still have a long way to go, Bob Mondavi would say “it is just the beginning” which we humbly confess, yet, I promise to give my very, very best in the future as I did in the past.
The best is yet to come, AA YVS Lenz M. Moser, Austria, August 25th, 2020

For further info: lenz.moser@lmm-projects.com m: +49 151 531 19 134