Message in a bottle

Path to success: Adrien Fabry’s exposure to the wine industry as a child has proven a boon for business. [Photo provided to Shanghai Star]

A Web-based wine shop arms China’s connoisseurs with the knowledge to choose the best from the vine online, as well as the back story of their favorite drop. Yu Ran logs on.

Working with wine is the realization of Adrien Fabry’s childhood dream.

Growing up in a wealthy entrepreneurial family in Paris, Fabry’s career path was set in motion while he was still a child and has led him to launch his own company.

For generations, the Fabry family has had a close relationship with famous winery owners across France, bringing Fabry wine knowledge and culture from an early age.

What’s more, he spent all his childhood holidays in a historical Bordeaux chateaux. Before graduating from EDHEC Business School with a bachelor’s degree in Corporate Finance, Fabry visited Shanghai in 2006 and fell in love with the city.

In 2012, Fabry made a brave decision to found the Heritage Wine Club, his wine website in Shanghai, thus becoming the first foreigner to sell wines online in China.

"The mission of my website is to set up a reference for Chinese consumers to buy wine with no mistakes," 29-year-old Fabry says.

As an e-commerce platform with a selection of 200 wine products from 100 brands, the Heritage Wine Club is keen to enable Chinese wine buyers to buy smart and carefully selected wines from all over the world.

"Online shopping will be the main method for people to buy everything sooner or later so I determined to open an online shop instead of a real store," Fabry says.