Running two vineyards in China is a demanding business for a woman of a certain (young) age
JUDY LEISSNER LIKES the path less taken. At university in the US, when other students were worrying about law, accountancy and medical finals, Leissner was pursuing women’s studies and harboring a dream of working for women’s rights at the United Nations. Then, at age 22, despite being adamantly against marriage in college, she married Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner.
“Growing up, my parents emphasized that it was most important to find something you like doing, so that’s what I did,” Leissner says. She eventually ended up in human resources at Goldman Sachs in Hong Kong, but that ended in 2002 when she got an appeal from her father to join him in a five-year old winery venture. “It didn’t even occur to me that joining my dad in business was an option,” she says.
Leissner, 30, is now CEO of Grace Vineyard, and the youngest person – and only woman – to run a winery in China. Her father, Chan Chun-keung, a former metals trader, invested in water treatment and funeral services in China in the 1990s before starting the Shanxi province winery in 1997. He’s chairman of the company, but leaves the day-to-day business to his daughter.
Before she joined Grace, Leissner knew nothing about wine and had no experience working in China. The varietals education was relatively easy: Leissner’s mentor was wine consultant Lau Chi-sun, founder of the Chinese magazine Wine Now. Coming to grips with doing business on the mainland was much more difficult.
“Working in China encompasses a combination of things: the culture, history and the people,” says Leissner, a mother of two. “It would be much easier if you have, like my dad, a broad sense of knowledge and understanding of where things have come from. For that, I talk a lot to him about the decisions I make.”
Age was a big issue too: when she took the helm, and was thrown into meetings with stern government officials, Leissner was only 24.
“Age matters a lot more than gender in China,” she says. “At the beginning, people didn’t take me seriously when they saw how young and new to the business I was. When I went into a meeting, they wouldn’t say anything to me. They just stared.” Leissner took it in her stride and used humor to diffuse many sticky situations.
“I realized I had something unique to offer given my international exposure and perspective,” she says. “And you find that when you are confident in yourself, people naturally become more comfortable with you.”
It’s a busy time at the vineyard. Production in 2007 reached 700,000 bottles of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay. Aside from supervising the 200-hectare Shanxi winery, which employs 100 full-time staff and 3,000 farmers, Leissner is also planning a second winery in Xi’an, in central China, which is scheduled to open in 2010.
“Our approach to wine production is more horizontal because we’re not burdened by the need to follow winemaking traditions. We are constantly experimenting with different grapes to see which ones work best.”
Leissner’s vision is to produce a wine that is distinctly Chinese. “You may already have an impression of what Australian or French wine tastes like,” she says. “We want to do the same in China, to make a uniquely Chinese wine that people will associate with the country and Grace Vineyard,” she says.
After six years of being in the front line at Grace, Leissner is eventually hoping to take a back seat and focus more on strategic management issues. “Ultimately I want to be an investor, not a general manager. If we reach a point where the business can run independently without me coming in every day, then that in itself would already be a huge achievement,” she says.
