“Wines are priceless works of art, and making wine is a kind of artistic creation. As a winemaker, we don't have the right and ability to reduce costs; we can only constantly improve the quality.”

By: Laura Wei

Interview with John Zhang, Founder of Luluisland Winery

Written by Laura Wei

“Wines are priceless works of art, and making wine is a kind of artistic creation. As a winemaker, we don't have the right and ability to reduce costs; we can only constantly improve the quality.”

Many people should be familiar with Lulu Island Winery, which is located in Richmond, as it is the largest icewine maker and exporter in BC. The company’s wine output accounts for 70% of BC’s total output, and 80% of its production is earmarked for overseas customers, and the company was also named among BC’s top 25 exporters. John Chang, the founder of Lulu Island Winery, is not only a successful entrepreneur but also a winemaker who makes international-grade wine. Today, we live in an age in which people are easily driven by money, and many choose to cut corners to lower costs and obtain short-term profits. Chang, however, believes that quality is a guarantee for the success of an enterprise. Thus, he firmly believes that producing each drop of wine attentively and providing exceptional services to every customer with love will make one’s efforts turn into gains.

The Road of Venture

“When you possess an entrepreneur’s potential and ability, then business has no boundaries for you.”

John Chang was born in Taiwan and grew up in a family that has been involved in farming and business for generations. In his twenties, after finishing his compulsory military services in Taiwan, Chang started building his own businesses and successively became involved in many areas, including real estate development, water conservancy projects, and technology development. These experiences built up his sensitivity in business and also trained him to become a critical thinker. All the accumulated experience is undoubtedly a valuable asset for Chang; in fact, it is the base that has made him a successful entrepreneur and an excellent manager.

Chang first began considering immigrating to Canada while on a trip to the Canadian East Coast; specifically, he wanted to understand and experience the Canadian culture, which differs so greatly from Asian culture, in more depth. Immigration itself, of course, is challenging because one has to start everything anew in an unfamiliar environment, but Chang believes that the operation and management of business has no divisions. Since he was certain that the Chinese spirit of hard work he possesses would help him overcome whatever difficulties he might encounter, he decided to immigrate with his family to Canada in 1999.

Shortly after moving to Canada, during harvest season, Chang acquainted himself with blueberries when some friends invited him to visit a Richmond farm. He had previously heard about blueberries in Taiwan, but on the way to the farm he learned from his friend that blueberries are very healthy and high in antioxidants. This particular friend always brought back blueberry juice to Taiwan for his father, who was in poor health—a fact that inspired Chang. He thought that if he could make blueberry wine, it would last longer than juice; moreover, the fruit’s short growing period would translate into relatively low production costs. Consequently, Chang bought many blueberries during the visit and began experimenting with making blueberry wine. Much to his delight, he found out that the taste of the wine was surprisingly good, so he decided to further invest in the idea. Although he did not have any experience in the wine industry at the time, he believes that when one possesses an entrepreneur’s potential and ability, business has no boundaries.

Chang, with his risk-taking attitude, subsequently took the first step in building his winery. He visited many vineyards, getting to know more about the industry and becoming more confident with his new career, and resolutely decided to build his own winery in the process. He immediately started writing a business plan, which he submitted to the City Hall of Richmond. With the application process underway, he kept exploring all the aspects of the business. He even hired an experienced winemaker who developed more than three hundred kinds of wine in just over seven months. Ultimately, Chang realized that blueberry and raspberry wines would be the leading products for the winery he was going to establish. In 2001, Chang officially launched his own operation, Blossom Winery, which specialized in the production of Canada’s very own icewines, all kinds of fruit-based wine, and many other quality wines, including red and white table wines that were mainly exported to North American and Asian markets. In 2007, Chang’s winery operation greatly expanded when he spent nearly 50 million dollars on the latest winemaking equipment and founded Lulu Island Winery. Since then, he has dedicated himself to producing flavorful and aromatic wines using a combination of Chinese traditional winemaking methods and modern Western technology and equipment.

Chang’s career journey, particularly in the business operations of the winery, has not always been so smooth. The differences between the East and the West in terms of culture, concepts, and the ways of doing things created many problems and challenges; nevertheless, he has never looked at these problems as difficulties or setbacks. Instead, Chang thinks of business as a continuous process of problem solving—in this journey one must work hard, focus, regularly think and reflect, and learn to plan from short term to long term so that one can accumulate enough experience to grow the business and lead the entire team as far as possible.

The Road Nowadays

“Patience races with failure; humbleness walks with success.”

In recent years, Lulu Island Winery has been well renowned throughout North America and Asia for its quality fruit wines and icewines. The BC VQA (Vintners Quality Alliance) stamp assured that the wine the company produces is 100% from BC and has met rigorous quality regulations. Furthermore, the winery has achieved excellent results in many international wine and icewine competitions since 2002. Some of the most recent achievements are the 2014 Gold Medalist of All Canadian Wine Competition, the 2013 Gold Medal of Japan Wine Challenge (Meritage Icewine), and the 2012 Special Gold Award at the Yantai International Wine Competition. In February of 2012, Chang had the privilege of being invited by Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, to visit China. Moreover, because of its beautiful environments and distinctive architecture, Lulu Island Winery became one of Vancouver’s top tourism attractions, winning “The Best Partner of Tourism Richmond” award in 2011.

Despite the phenomenal success of Lulu Island Winery, Chang has managed to maintain a humble and grateful heart. Living in the western culture, he slowly formed the habit of giving back to and serving his society. Due to its excellent reputation, Lulu Island Winery was selected as the China hospitality center for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games. The center was ultimately named “China House” because it was a place where athletes, coaches, team officials, and the Chinese media could take a break from the high-pressure competition, welcome guests, and celebrate the Chinese Lunar New Year. Before that, however, Chang had to overcome various difficulties and apply for all kinds of certification pertaining to security, fire control, transportation, food, and so on, just so that the Chinese delegation could have their own “home.” In the 2010 Games, China had its best ever Winter Olympic medal finish, winning five gold medals and eleven medals in total. Subsequently, the highly successful Chinese team wrote “wine glasses invite athletes, celebrating the title”—a charming story for both the team and Chang.

The Road of the Future

“We don't want to be a transitory brand; under the test of time, we want to use the best quality and attentive services to create a 'private wine brand.’”

Private home cuisine involves specialty dishes that are cooked by the host and served in a private home. Similarly to Chinese private home cuisine, Chang aptly describes, Okanagan wine is a “private wine.” Because of British Columbia’s unique natural environment, with its fine climate, soil, and water quality, superb grapes can be bred. However, the hilly terrain in the Okanagan Valley makes machines impossible to use for large area plantations; therefore, compared to South Africa, Australia, and Chile, wine production in BC is much lower due to the artificial cultivation and harvesting of grapes that is required. Over the last two years, the Chinese market for wine increased steadily, and 80% of Lulu Island Winery’s wine was exported to China. Chang hopes that the precious “private wine” will not be a transitory brand but rather one that stands the test of time; thus, he is committed to using the best quality and attentive services to create a famous wine brand in China. While expanding in the Asian market, Chang is also in the process of accomplishing his five-year goal of developing a composite winery—a wine estate that produces a variety of brands of wine. Among his many goals is to eventually make the aroma of his wine last longer and drift further.