As the countdown begins to the December opening of London wine club 67 Pall Mall’s Shanghai location, founder and CEO Grant Ashton tells Joyce Yip why he believes Shanghai, “the world’s most important wine market”, has the potential to elevate the global profile of Chinese wine.
Just three years after it cut the ribbon to a bar residency in Hong Kong, 67 Pall Mall will open this December a wine club in Shanghai – a city CEO and founder Grant Ashton deems the “most important wine market in the world”.
The Shanghai club will also be among the group’s most expensive to join. Until December, annual membership is priced at RMB38,000 (£4,184) sans joining fee, which will increase to RMB50,000 (£5,500) with a joining fee, though Ashton didn’t specify how much. For comparison, 67 Pall Mall’s London, Singapore and Verbier locations charge a yearly £2,750 (with a £2,000 joining fee); S$4,800 (£2,772, with a £1,150 joining fee) and CHF 2,500 (£2,307 with a £1,846 joining fee), respectively.
The new club opens as rival Hong Kong-based wine club Club Bâtard prepares to launch its own Shanghai outpost a month earlier. Memberships are now opened at a one-time joining fee of RMB100,000 (£11,000) with a monthly subscription of RMB1,250 (£137).
Ashton said 67 Pall Mall’s appeal lies in its “combination of expertise, scale, provenance and community”, adding that the Shanghai club’s capped membership of 1,500 should drive demand. The club will also offer what Ashton describes as its “most extensive wine selection in China”, featuring 5000-plus wines from more than 40 countries, with around 1000 available by the glass.
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What to expect
Nestled in a century-old French Renaissance Maison, the multi-floor 67 Pall Mall Shanghai will include a baijiu bar alongside the whisky and spirits offerings, plus “more private rooms than any other 67 Pall Mall Club, because private dining is central to how people entertain,” says Ashton.
A dedicated cellar will hold more than 1,000 labels of fine Chinese wine, including rare, aged and collectible bottles from producers in Ningxia, Xinjiang, Yunnan and beyond. Ashton said the club aims to present Chinese wine with the same seriousness and respect afforded to Bordeaux and Burgundy, rather than as a niche category.
“Chinese winemaking is producing bottles of genuine world-class quality now, and most of the world hasn’t caught up to that yet. We want Shanghai to be part of changing that,” he says.
When 67 Pall Mall opened in Hong Kong in January 2024, its Hollywood Road address was only meant to be temporary as the team searched for a permanent home in the city. With the latest spotlight on Shanghai, Ashton didn’t indicate what lies ahead for its Hong Kong location, only that it “plays a very specific role” as “one of the great wine hubs of Asia” and “the gateway into China for the wine trade”.
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