High-altitude Hire: Chiong Mougin Joins Ao Yun

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Veteran fine wine promoter Yvonne Chiong Mougin has joined Ao Yun, LVMH’s winery high in the mountains of Yunnan province, as global sales director.

Chiong Mougin worked as an export manager at Opus One for 13 years — she most recently covered the Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan markets, and prior to that continental China.

Ao Yun is often seen as China’s best producer. The winery is ~2500 meters high in the “Shangri-La” area of Yunnan and sources its fruit from four vineyards — see this write-up of my visit.

In 2016, Ao Yun became the first China wine on Liv-ex and regularly features at or near the top of Chinese wine rankings, including the annual one by James Suckling. It is also expensive. UK critic Jancis Robinson has questioned the value of such Chinese wines costing hundreds of USD.

Chiong Mougin hails from Singapore, where she was a wine buyer, sommelier and restaurant manager before moving to China and rising to prominence two decades ago as chief sommelier at Jean Georges (Three on the Bund) in Shanghai, where she worked for four years.

Chiong Mougin has extensive China experience via wine training for airlines like Hainan, corporate training for companies like Microsoft and marketing consulting for wineries like Helan Mountain (Pernod Ricard) and distributors like Torres China.

She was also a contributor to Grape Wall of China in its early days. Her posts covered everything from the move to Shanghai to major lessons learned about being a sommelier in China. She wrote:

I came to Shanghai in 2003 from my native Singapore for an interview to be a restaurant sommelier. I was unaware of and unprepared for what to expect. Amazed by the vibrancy of this cosmopolitan city, I wondered, “Why do so few people here only appear to be interested in wine? There is some curiosity, but no broad wine scene, only isolated pioneers.”

I heard comments that caused me to think about the wine scene. For instance, a few people told me that “some Chinese mix 7-Up or Sprite with red wine worth thousands of dollars!” I wondered if I should take the job and what I would face if I did.

After three weeks of consideration, I accepted the offer, signed a contract and started packing. I began work in a restaurant in a classic 1920s building on The Bund, overlooking the Huangpu River. From the restaurant, I viewed the sprawling construction across the river in Pudong as a visual manifestation of the increasing importance and openness of China.

Learn more about her move to China here. And China wine lessons learned here, including customer palates and encouraging people to explore with their taste buds.

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