Meet the Shanghai ‘Wine Thug’ making natural wine cool again

This May, Bunch – one of China’s biggest, biannual natural wine events – will return to Shanghai. Joyce Yip speaks to co-founder Franklin Chiang to learn how the category is riding the cool wave. 

When Franklin Chiang and his partners sought support for their first Bunch in 2024, their pitch was simple: “Give me your wine and money and trust”. 

Chiang had predicted 500 guests. Eight hundred filled the room. 

Fast forward two years, and Bunch has become one of the biggest biannual natural wine events in Shanghai.

Chiang, now also known as ‘Wine Thug Frankie’, turned to natural wines after quitting his marketing role at Moët Hennessy Diageo in 2021. He imported them (mainly from France), tried to make his own label and hosted countless masterclasses that attracted hundreds of curious drinkers. 

No party like a Bunch party

Bunch, as such, was an amalgamation of his outreach efforts in one big party that featured food, live music and wines in the biodynamic, low-intervention, organic and natural categories. 2025 will even see two events: one taking place on May 23 that’s themed after mid-to-high altitude wines and a more comprehensive one in November.  

Beyond gospel spreading, Chiang hopes to promote a community of cool kids around natural wines. 

“People dress up for Bunch: you won’t see them do that for Vinexpo or ProWine,” he says. “Natural wine is never just about the product.” 

Serving up a good time

Such vivacity is Chiang’s antidote to rectifying the category’s reputation so tarnished by the subpar natural wines that trickled into the country back in 2021. 

“2021 and 2022 were the best time. Natural wines were trendy, and everyone was interested; but this boom also attracted people who didn’t understand the business and brought in poor wines that smelled and tasted weird,” says Chiang, adding that though these bad seeds have since exited the game, natural wines are still poured almost exclusively in bistros and rarely at conventional, mainstream restaurants in Shanghai. 

This limitation, however, plays into Bunch’s advantage. 

Natural wines are predominately associated with the chic, energetic vibes of bistros, which often serve fusion, international food amongst eclectic interiors. They are, therefore, the byproduct of a cool community that’s unbothered by restrictions of terroir and grape variety but is nevertheless focused on serving up a good time. 

Drinks decisions at Down To Earth

Last November, Chiang tested this theory with a five-seater natural wine bar, Down To Earth (DTE), that also prides itself on its wide selection of records and rotating wines by the glass. It’s a project he deems “way more stressful and challenging than organising Bunch”. 

“The intimacy forces interaction between strangers: we want people to come alone but leave with new friends – this is not very common in China, nor do the Chinese like to stand and drink,” he says, adding that most wine bars in Shanghai are bottle shops that also offer a by-the-glass menu. 

“That’s great for [conventional] wine people, but natural-wine drinkers enjoy the chill vibe. Almost no one at DTE asks about terroir… In many cases, our customers don’t come for the wine, they come for the whole culture behind it. If they want to hang out with me, for instance, they’re drinking natural wine.” 

What’s next for natural wine in China?

While Chiang is optimistic that awareness for natural wines will continue to spread across individual consumers and on-trade outlets, the category’s comparatively small production and mercurial quality mean it’ll likely stay out of China’s mammoth e-commerce sector, on which conventional wines heavily rely. 

“Unstable quality means you’d get a lot of complaints or questions about why there’s sediment to something as basic as ‘why is it orange’. China is super in favour of customers who’d demand refunds and returns, so e-commerce is definitely a challenge,” he says. 

But Chiang isn’t fussed. 

“Honestly, if no one shows up to Bunch, my friends and I will still have fun.”

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