October get together

In Médoc, October is a time for getting together. The traditional harvest lunch at Léoville for which Eva Barton was the perfect hostess, was a chance to make new friends and see old faces. And this lunch was no exception. Next to Anthony, more the gentleman than ever, I had the delight of seeing Daniel Lawton, the wine “courtier” of Bordeaux, May-Elaine de Lencquesaing, coming direct from Stellenbosch for the occasion and Thierry Manoncourt, who had made the long journey from his Figeac estate in Saint-Emilion.

Side by side, the five of us have experienced the past 40 years of the Bordeaux wine scene, 40 phenomenal years that have seen more changes in our craft than the two preceding centuries combined. Our professional lives have run in parallel. We have each known the same joys, the same difficulties and probably at times the same moments of discouragement. And we also know that we’ve had the great luck to find ourselves in the right place, at the right time. Through it all, none of us has swerved from his or her path. Deep in our hearts, we are happy to have contributed, each in his or her own way, to the renewal of Bordeaux wines and to their success the world over.