Chinese Rice Wine - Scott Thurman’s Journey

A few months ago I received an email from a former Intel client contact. He was looking at getting away from his high tech background and do something completely new. That idea became ChineseRiceWine.com, a wholesaler and retailer of Chinese Rice Wine. I sat down with Thurman recently to ask him about his latest venture.

Kent: Tell us a little about yourself, as it’s an interesting journey from Intel to ChineseRiceWine.com…
Scott: I’ve lived and/or worked in Asia for the last 20+ years.  Up until early last year, I had been employed by Intel managing their flash memory business in China.  I “voluntarily separated” from Intel in January 2008, as they were spinning off the group that I was in, the Flash Memory Group, to form a new company.  The rumor that the group would be spun off had surfaced clear back in 2006.  After it was finally announced, it still took the management team two years to make it official, so I had some time to prepare for my exit.

Why Chinese Rice Wine, specifically?
After receiving my Masters degree from the American Graduate School of International Management in Arizona, I accepted a position selling print advertising to businesses in Hong Kong that sought to sell their Asian made products to customers in the US and Europe.  I had always hoped to find a unique and interesting product to bring into the U.S., but never found anything that hadn’t already been done, or had limited potential.   Then in November, 2006 I went to an amazing restaurant in Shanghai.  The theme was “Imperial China”; dark antique wood, large stone statues, etc… something that you might see in the movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”  As we were being seated, I noticed some extraordinary ceramic bottles that my host informed me were the containers of the locally brewed rice wine.  Of course I had to try it, and I loved it!   A few months later, I tried to find it for a Chinese New Year’s party we were having at our home, and couldn’t.  It was then that I started thinking that there might be a business opportunity in Chinese rice wine.

Where do you get your product?
There is a beautiful little city, (at least by China’s standards) about 100 miles southeast of Shanghai called Shaoxing.  Apparently the rice wine from this area is famous for its premium taste throughout Asia.  It’s the Bordeaux, or Napa Valley, of rice wine.  Apparently the soil, the wind, the water and the weather are perfect for growing this specific type of glutinous rice that is the base ingredient for Chinese rice wine.

What do you have in store for Chinese Rice Wine in 2009 and beyond?
We received are first container in August and the response form Oregonians has been fantastic…far ahead of my expectations.  I had anticipated having to give away half of the inventory over the first 6 months, but that hasn’t been the case at all. We’ve laid down a great foundation and I think we’ll see double digit growth throughout 2009.   We’ve started selling a few cases into Washington, and hope to start actively selling to California stores in March.  Our online sales have really started to pick-up, and with the help of our friends at Anvil Media, this trend will undoubtedly continue. So, in 2009 we will grow our distribution channel to several states, solidify www.chinesericewine.com as the primary source of information and products related to Chinese rice wine, and grow the number of products we offer from 4 to 10 by the end of the year.

Where do you see the business in 5 years?
I hope we’ve been able to move the warehouse out of my garage.  In 5 years I would like to be selling Chinese Rice Wine in every state that we are legally allowed to sell it into.  I have the exclusive distribution rights to Mexico as well, but we’ll see how long it takes us to build out the distribution here in the U.S.  I would like to add not only more bottles, and older Chinese rice wines, but different Asian alcohols to the product line as well.   Every country in Asia has its own version of rice wine.  Some of the alcohols are distilled and are very strong.

Where can I purchase Chinese Rice Wine?
You can always by it on our web site, chinesericewine.com. We use PayPal as our ecommerce vendor, and we ship our products using FedEx ground delivery.  If you live in Portland, there are several places that are stocking it; Uwajimaya in Beaverton, H Mart in Tigard, and Fubonn Supermarket on 82nd.  Biwa Japanese restaurant has put it on their menu, and we’re having a Chinese New Year’s party on February 5th at the North 45 pub on February 3rd.  In Washington you can buy it at the Uwajimaya stores in Seattle and Bellevue.  We’re also close to closing on a number of national chains (fingers crossed)…we’ll keep you posted.

Where can I get more information about Chinese Rice Wine?
www.chinesericewine.com is the center of all things related to this unique alcohol.  We still have a lot of content to post, but hopefully there is enough there now to get people interested.   If you have any questions, feel free to send an email to  info at chinesericewine.com.

Thank you Scott.