Riesling, Folk Songs, and Personal Charm: Chengdu’s Wine Bar Experiment

Best known as the perennial host of China’s National Food and Drinks Fair, Chengdu has long been on the radar of wine producers and distributors. But beyond the trade shows and baijiu dominance, the southwestern city has quietly become a major player in China’s night-time economy, giving rise to a wide variety of bars — including a budding subculture of wine-focused venues. 

According to the 2025 Wine Bar Development Report by Hongcan, a Chinese food and beverage industry research platform, Chengdu now ranks third in the country for number of wine bars, trailing only Shanghai and Shenzhen and surpassing Beijing and Guangzhou.

As a trendsetting city for bar culture, Chengdu was quick to embrace wine bars following their rise in Shanghai in 2018–2019. The trend took off locally around 2020 but soon lost momentum due to the city’s entrenched baijiu culture and a relatively limited consumer base for wine. Many early adopters folded in a wave of closures.

Those that have endured offer a unique window into what works — and what doesn’t — when it comes to wine in Chengdu. Vino Joy News interviewed and profiled three of the city’s most resilient wine venues, each representing a distinct format: a wine-and-dining hybrid bar, a compact neighbourhood wine bar, and a large-scale music lounge with wine at its core. While their business models vary, all share one trait: simplicity. Each has deliberately pared back its offerings to focus on atmosphere, accessibility, and survival in a niche and competitive market.

Encouragingly, all three report that their customer base is growing beyond wine professionals and connoisseurs to include casual, everyday drinkers. Compared to China’s traditional wine consumption scenarios — often business-driven and formal — these more social, relaxed models may hold the key to long-term sustainability.

Hō Wine Bar & Eatery: Localising Wine Through Flavour

Hō Wine Bar & Eatery opened in October 2021, offering a tightly curated list of wines alongside a menu that fuses Chinese and Western cuisine. The intimate venue seats about 20 and features a kitchen, bar, wine cellar, and an open-air patio.

More than 500 bottles are displayed in the cellar, each hand-labelled with retail-level pricing. Wines are also available by the glass. According to founder and head sommelier Stephen Yang, bottles priced between RMB 200 and 500 (US$ 28–70) are the best sellers, with white wines — particularly Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Chardonnay — accounting for more than 60% of sales during the summer.

The wine list reflects Hō’s clientele: mostly women aged 27 to 40 who come for casual gatherings and personal enjoyment. Wine enthusiasts make up only about 20% of patrons. As a result, the bar has embraced a “de-professionalised” approach to wine service, avoiding technical jargon in favour of personalised recommendations based on taste.

Though Chengdu’s wine bar boom fizzled after 2020, Hō has weathered the decline. Still, business remains unpredictable. “Some Mondays are packed, but Fridays can be quiet,” Yang says.

He explains that the RMB 200–300 per head price point falls into a challenging middle ground. “It’s harder to sustain than either high-end restaurants or cheap comfort food. Hot pot places and fine-dining venues have more consistent traffic. We depend on spontaneous visits, not planned meals or banquets.”

Wine bars remain niche in Chengdu, and repeat customers are far from guaranteed. Yet the costs are high: with a full kitchen and restaurant-level service, the operational overhead is substantial. To localise and boost appeal, Hō has adapted its menu to include Sichuan-style small plates alongside classic Western bar snacks.

Still, wine remains the bar’s core. “Food is a bonus, but wine is the backbone,” Yang says. Wine currently accounts for around 60% of total revenue — down from 70–75% in the first two years — but Yang believes the bar’s precise and approachable service has helped build a loyal clientele.

“Wine still isn’t most people’s first choice,” he says, “but if we keep doing what we do well — offering a good vibe and emotional value — there’s room to survive, even in a tough economy.”

Wine Night: A Minimalist Wine Bar Built on Personal Connection

While venues like Hō grapple with balancing food and wine, Wine Night represents a leaner model born out of economic necessity — one focused on controlling costs through simplicity and intimacy.

Tucked beneath a residential block, the bar spans just 35 square metres, with three to four indoor tables and a small outdoor seating area. “I’m not trying to draw a crowd,” says founder Frank Li. “This isn’t a noisy bar.”

The venue serves only wine, paired with light snacks like cured meats, cheeses, and nuts. Hot meals aren’t available, but customers can bring in food from nearby restaurants — as long as it’s not pungent or spicy. The bar is run entirely by Frank himself.

With low rent, no staff, and modest overhead, the business is self-sustaining. “I love wine, but more importantly, this has to be a rational, self-contained business,” he says. The current occupancy rate hovers between 50% and 60%, which he considers stable.

Frank also supplements income through bottle sales outside the bar. Around half his revenue comes from group orders to friends and acquaintances, marked up by just 15%. “My prices are much lower than restaurants,” he notes. Combined, in-bar and direct sales generate nearly RMB 100,000 (US$ 13,800) in monthly revenue.

The bar’s popularity is largely driven by Frank’s personality. A natural extrovert, he first got into wine in 2012 and has since built a tight-knit community around it. “Most of my customers are old friends. About 90% are regulars.”

What keeps them coming, he says, is conversation. “People like to chat. If someone’s curious about wine, I’m happy to share. I try to add a bit of emotional value, too.”

The space itself feels more like a living room than a bar — cosy, casual, and unpretentious. “People come here to relax. That’s all they want.”

Bu’er Music Restaurant & Bar: Where Wine Meets Nightlife

Unlike the first two venues, Bu’er Music Restaurant & Bar operates on a much larger scale — more akin to China’s conventional “nightlife” format. Located in Chengdu’s bustling Jiuyanqiao district, the flagship venue opened in August 2016 and now anchors a chain of franchised locations across the country.

Buer blends dining, wine, and live music in one multi-purpose space, similar to popular lifestyle chains like Hutaoli. By day, it serves full meals; by night, it transforms into a bar and livehouse focused on folk music and wine.

To make wine more approachable, Buer offers bottles mostly priced around RMB 200 (US$ 28), with food pairings and simplified wine descriptions. The venue also sells beer, cocktails, and spirits to attract a broader customer base — a strategy that dilutes the wine bar identity but boosts sales volume.

On review platforms like Dianping, few customer comments highlight wine, leading some industry voices to question whether Buer truly qualifies as a wine bar. But sales figures tell a different story. According to Buer, the Jiuyanqiao location once sold over 6,000 bottles of wine in a single month. Even during off-peak periods, monthly sales average more than 2,000 bottles — a figure few wine-focused venues in China can match.

“Maybe it doesn’t feel like a wine bar,” says one Chengdu wine industry insider, “but its sales numbers beat most of them.”

Today, Bu’er operates five locations in Chengdu and has expanded through franchising to Jiangsu, Hainan, Chongqing, Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Hunan, and Guizhou. Its success underscores a broader truth: to scale a wine business in China, wine alone may not be enough.