Started 50 years ago, the Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Valley, California, was built around the founder’s philosophy for vino: Good wine should be enjoyed with good food and good friends.

The company says that philosophy is still the same. Indeed, it’s at the core of its mission. So when Mondavi sells into a new market—say, China—bottling that message is just as important as bottling the wine itself.

 

 

That may be hard to pull off when its chardonnay and merlot sit on shelves with dozens of other brands in bricks-and-mortar stores in Beijing and Shanghai, as there’s no way for China’s wine aficionados to understand the wine or the company’s history. But on Tmall.com, Alibaba’s business-to-consumer online marketplace, those consumers get all the information they need to make a good buying decision. The site, in effect, becomes as much about education as it does commerce.

Watch this video to take a tour of the Robert Mondavi Winery, one of the most popular destinations in Napa Valley, California, and find out how the iconic brand is sharing its history and the philosophy of its founder with consumers in China through Tmall.