ASC Fine Wines Opens Two Wine Venues in Beijing and Shanghai

ASC Fine Wines is expanding its physical presence in China even as many wine businesses cut investment amid a prolonged market downturn. The importer and distributor has opened two venues – one in Beijing, one in Shanghai.

The Beijing Wine Atelier opened Aug. 28 at Rosewood Beijing, in the city’s Chaoyang central business district, bringing a dedicated wine experience space to the hotel and creating opportunities for ASC and Rosewood to collaborate on tastings, private functions and customer events. 

The Shanghai Wine Atelier followed at the historic Former Municipal Council Building on the Bund, occupying a newly built wing of the structure, which once housed the administration of the Shanghai International Settlement. Completed in 1922, the building underwent extensive restoration in 2024 and has since become one of the city’s prominent lifestyle destinations. Both venues are now operating.

A space for trade partners

One of the Wine Atelier’s main functions is to serve ASC’s trade customers. 

The venues provide professional spaces where industry partners can entertain clients, hold tastings, introduce wines and brands, organize seminars, and host social and private events, the company said in a press release.

“For our trade partners, it provides a professional home where they can bring their customers, share the stories behind the wines and build relationships that extend beyond an individual transaction,” said Monica St. Pierre, Lead Director of ASC Fine Wines.

Founded by the St. Pierre family in 1996, ASC is a fine wine importer and distributor serving Greater China, with a portfolio of more than 1,200 wines from over 100 wineries distributed through restaurants, hotels, distributors, e-commerce platforms and private-client channels.

The launch follows a change in ownership. ASC was controlled for many years by Japanese drinks group Suntory before the founding St. Pierre family bought back the business in 2025 and outlined a direct-to-consumer strategy – of which the new venues are a physical extension.

“China’s wine market is undergoing a structural reshaping. Alongside traditional gifting and business entertainment, we see growing demand from consumers who want to understand what they drink and connect with the people, places and stories behind each wine,” said Don St. Pierre, executive chairman and CEO of ASC Fine Wines. 

“The Wine Atelier is our response: a platform where our trade partners can engage their customers, consumers can discover wine in a more personal way, and meaningful relationships can be built over a shared glass. For ASC, this is the beginning of a new chapter.”

A return to physical venues

The openings aren’t ASC’s first attempt to reach consumers through dedicated wine spaces. Beginning in 2007, the company ran its Wine Residence concept in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. But China’s premium wine market underwent a structural adjustment after 2012, as restrictions on government spending sharply curtailed demand tied to official and business entertaining. The Beijing Wine Residence closed in 2014, followed by the Shanghai flagship in 2016.

The investment comes against a difficult backdrop. China’s wine market remains depressed, and many operators are reducing costs and physical expansion.

Matthew Gong, ASC’s director of communications, PR and events, said the company sees a shift in demand rather than its disappearance.

The market is experiencing “a structural reset, not a normal cyclical slowdown,” he said.

“Consumers haven’t turned away from wine; they’ve turned away from low-value, story-less products. Consumption is shifting from ‘face’ to ‘substance,’ and in that shift, experience and service become the new competitive ground.”

For ASC, the venues are a practical expression of that assessment.

“The Wine Atelier is our response and the fulfilment of ASC’s strategy of focusing on experience and service following the St. Pierre family’s return to control of the business,” Gong said.

Lessons from the Wine Residence

ASC has invested in physical wine spaces before, with mixed longevity.

Beginning in 2007, it established Wine Residence venues in Shanghai, Beijing and Hong Kong. The membership-club model focused on wealthy private clients and major corporate customers, emphasising fine wine sales and collecting.

Those venues faced a changing market after 2012, when restrictions on government spending curtailed demand associated with official and business entertaining. The Beijing Wine Residence closed in 2014, and the Shanghai flagship shut in June 2016.

The Wine Atelier differs substantially from the former Wine Residence in purpose and audience. The Wine Residence was an exclusive membership club catering mainly to wealthy private clients and top-tier corporate customers, with an emphasis on fine wine sales and collecting. 

The Wine Atelier also welcomes private clients and consumers, with retail forming part of the offering – though not the venues’ primary purpose, ASC said. The company frames purchases as a natural extension of the experience: customers learn about wines through tasting, conversation and professional guidance, including from staff holding WSET Diplomas, before deciding what to buy. 

The wine list, updated monthly, spans more than 200 labels priced from several hundred to tens of thousands of yuan.

Gong described the concepts as two generations of a similar idea, shaped by different market cycles. ASC’s latest investment will test whether that revised model can turn interest in wine into repeat business during a prolonged downturn.