China

Jian Cao

Jian completed his Master’s at the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Portugal. He grew up in Lanzhou, a city surrounded by plantings of Pinot Noir. Encouraged by his father’s interest in wine, and also experiencing an epiphany upon tasting wine for the first time at his eighteenth birthday party, Jian began a seven year journey in wine education. Four years were spent completing a Bachelor’s degree in Enology and Viticulture, followed by a Master’s degree and then time interning in wineries and the Bordeaux wine merchant Diva, all the while passing his WSET Level 3 in Wines Award, and preparing for his WSET Diploma. Jian’s trajectory would pivot in a new direction, however, when he visited the Kirin Distillery in Japan in 2020. Charmed by the whisky that he tasted there, Jian realised that spirits provide “a wonderful medium to communicate and learn the different histories, philosophies, and arts of various cultures”. Jian wishes to channel his passion for spirits into facilitating cross-cultural ties between China and the rest of the world: both by introducing more spirits from cultures outside of China into that country; but also by introducing the wider world to indigenous Chinese spirits, such as Baijiu. In order to realise this ambitious project, Jian feels that the practical experience he will gain working at Hennessy, learning such things as global marketing and the technology of Cognac production, as well as the fundamental yet profound knowledge he will acquire completing the WSET in Spirits courses, will be of immeasurable value.