by Aude Camus
What’s your favourite summer drink? I’m pretty sure there are a few Rosé lovers out there. I personally do love a nice glass of rosé when the weather is hot and sunny, it reminds me of summer in the South of France and drinks with friends at terraces in Paris. Speaking of hot and sunny, aren’t we lucky to live in a city where we can spend a good ¾ of the year at the beach, enjoy junk boat days and rooftop drinks? Hong Kong is a perfect city for rosé drinkers! But did you know that if you can, today, enjoy a sip of rosé at most restaurants, bars and rooftops in town, it is thanks to the hard work of two Frenchies? Let’s talk rosé (but not only) with Charles Soulisse Plou and Valentin Maurel, the two founders of Vines and Terroirs and Rose All the Way.
Hey Charles, Valentin. Thanks for taking the time to answers those questions. Shall we start with a bit of intro? Who are you? What brought you to Hong Kong?
What’s your favourite summer drink? I’m pretty sure there are a few Rosé lovers out there. I personally do love a nice glass of rosé when the weather is hot and sunny, it reminds me of summer in the South of France and drinks with friends at terraces in Paris. Speaking of hot and sunny, aren’t we lucky to live in a city where we can spend a good ¾ of the year at the beach, enjoy junk boat days and rooftop drinks? Hong Kong is a perfect city for rosé drinkers! But did you know that if you can, today, enjoy a sip of rosé at most restaurants, bars and rooftops in town, it is thanks to the hard work of two Frenchies? Let’s talk rosé (but not only) with Charles Soulisse Plou and Valentin Maurel, the two founders of Vines and Terroirs and Rose All the Way.
Hey Charles, Valentin. Thanks for taking the time to answers those questions. Shall we start with a bit of intro? Who are you? What brought you to Hong Kong?
Valentin: I moved to Hong Kong in 2010 as an apprentice for La Carterie group. My role was to source in Asia for the French market. And because my family has been producing wine in Provence for 9 generations, I took this opportunity to be based in Hong Kong to also start looking for a local distributor. The thing is, 10 years ago rosé wasn’t exactly as popular as it is today. There was no proper market for it in Hong Kong and I couldn’t find any distributor who was either interested or sharing my vision so I decided to start my own wine distribution company.
Charles: I first discovered Asia in 2009 while doing an internship in Shanghai. I felt in love with the vibrant energy of the region. I then moved back to France, to Bordeaux, as I wanted to complete an MBA in Wines and Spirits Marketing and once this was done, I decided to settle in Hong Kong, a booming market for French wines.
Valentin: we met through a friend. Charles was willing to start his own company as a rosé distributor and we’ve decided to partner and launched Rose Wine Cellar Limited in 2012. Then, in 2015 we thought it would be a good idea to regroup all our activities under just one company and this is when we created Vines and Terroirs Limited. Today, we distribute wines (red, white and rosé) from around 50 different estates, from both Italy and France.
While you distribute Champagne, white and red, you’ve decided to push rosé as your flagship product, why so?
Charles: I first discovered Asia in 2009 while doing an internship in Shanghai. I felt in love with the vibrant energy of the region. I then moved back to France, to Bordeaux, as I wanted to complete an MBA in Wines and Spirits Marketing and once this was done, I decided to settle in Hong Kong, a booming market for French wines.
Valentin: we met through a friend. Charles was willing to start his own company as a rosé distributor and we’ve decided to partner and launched Rose Wine Cellar Limited in 2012. Then, in 2015 we thought it would be a good idea to regroup all our activities under just one company and this is when we created Vines and Terroirs Limited. Today, we distribute wines (red, white and rosé) from around 50 different estates, from both Italy and France.
While you distribute Champagne, white and red, you’ve decided to push rosé as your flagship product, why so?
It has always been very clear in our minds that Hong Kong is a great market for rosé but that we needed to educate the consumers. We’ve decided to use the fun approach and brought a bit of French Riviera vibes to Hong Kong. Therefore we’ve launched a series of Pick Your Pink parties for people to enjoy rosé in a festive way. We also went all out on the fun gimmicks, launching a “Rosé Pongue”, setting-up a rosé bar on top of LKF Hotel …
Lately, and because it has been slightly harder to relax and enjoy a glass of rosé in bars and restaurants lately because of the COVID-19 situation, we have launched the Pick your Pink Box, a monthly box featuring 6 bottles of rosé for people to discover and enjoy the great variety of rosé wines.
It was all about sharing the Rosé way of life. And it did work pretty well! Actually, it worked so well that people kind of didn’t know we were distributing wines which were not rosé and so we decided to split our business in two brands: Rose All the Way for the rosé and Vines and Terroirs for our other wines.
It was all about sharing the Rosé way of life. And it did work pretty well! Actually, it worked so well that people kind of didn’t know we were distributing wines which were not rosé and so we decided to split our business in two brands: Rose All the Way for the rosé and Vines and Terroirs for our other wines.
Rose All The Way is much more than just about selling rosé, it’s about sharing a lifestyle and this is why we also have some lifestyle accessories.
What have been, so far, the biggest challenge you faced in your entrepreneurial journey?
Being fresh graduates when we launched our business has been a challenge as we had to learn by doing. Not to mention Hong Kong is one of the fastest growing market for wine meaning that competition here is high. There is absolutely no time for procrastination. But an even bigger challenge is to deal with the uncertainty of the market, things you cannot either predict nor control and, between the protests and the COVID-19, the past few months have been a rough ride.
And the greatest reward?
Seeing how popular rosé is today and knowing we were right from the very beginning is quite satisfying. More specifically, seeing the success of our Moon brand is a great reward. Last but not least, we are very happy to see our range of prestige wines growing.
Your fav places in Hong Kong for:
What have been, so far, the biggest challenge you faced in your entrepreneurial journey?
Being fresh graduates when we launched our business has been a challenge as we had to learn by doing. Not to mention Hong Kong is one of the fastest growing market for wine meaning that competition here is high. There is absolutely no time for procrastination. But an even bigger challenge is to deal with the uncertainty of the market, things you cannot either predict nor control and, between the protests and the COVID-19, the past few months have been a rough ride.
And the greatest reward?
Seeing how popular rosé is today and knowing we were right from the very beginning is quite satisfying. More specifically, seeing the success of our Moon brand is a great reward. Last but not least, we are very happy to see our range of prestige wines growing.
Your fav places in Hong Kong for:
A drink (or two) with friends: Café Claudel, Pastis, ICHU, Babacio, Le Tambour among many other places
A business lunch: Man Mo Café, Louise (REDISCOVER OUR FULL REVIEW OF LOUISE), L’Envol (REDISCOVER OUR INTERVIEW OF CHEF OLIVIER ELZER), Ecriture (REDISCOVER OUR FULL REVIEW OF ECRITURE) and Café Bohème
Brunch: The Grill at Grand Hyatt
Partying till dawn: we would start with a rooftop drink (and a bottle of rosé obviously) before heading to Dragon I, Cassio, Volar or Drop
A special occasion: on a boat thanks to Asia Marine (editor’s note: yachts charter)
A glass of rosé on the beach: Limewood in Repulse Bay, Cococabana in Shek O, Lantana at Cheung Sha Beach in Lantau, Treasure Island in Pui O
