Winegrowers’ Portraits Saint-Émilion
Pichon Longueville takes root in the 17th century. In 1850, Virginie de Pichon Longueville, Countess De Lalande by her marriage, inherits with her two sisters of 3/5 of their father's vineyard which will bear a few years later the name of Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.
In 1978, May-Éliane de Lencquesaing receives in turn this magnificent domain and completely commits herself there. She offers this vineyard an international renown thanks to the wines' quality, her strong personality and her pleasure in communicating. Ambassadress and owner, she was often respectfully called “Madam the General”.
In January 2007, Mrs de Lencquesaing leaves to South Africa and the Champagne House Louis Roederer buys this Classed Grand Cru with the ambition to pursue the accomplished work and to maintain the domain at a high level of prestige and quality. The 90 hectares are then restructured to preserve the exceptional personality of the wine, marked by elegance and balance.
In late 2012, Sylvie Cazes, Chief Executive Officer, willing to devote herself to the Center for Wine and Civilization, passes on the torch to Nicolas Glumineau, then director for six years of Château Montrose (Second Classed Growth, Saint-Estèphe). Technician with a brilliant path, having started his career in the chateaus Haut-Brion and Margaux, he assumes the role with the approval of Frédéric Rouzaud, managing director of the group Roederer.
Passing from the “only” management of Montrose to that of the chateaus de Pez and Pichon, undergoing a total technical revival, Nicolas Glumineau measures the change of scale: “It was an immense pleasure to participate in great vintages on the technical but also more general plan in an estate as Château Montrose. The opportunity to start again with a project at Pichon Comtesse … was simply fantastic!
I am more than honoured by the confidence I am entrusted with and the opportunity that I am given to succeed Sylvie Cazes. My ambition is to keep on making great wines by sublimating this terroir of very great Cabernets that proved it could also produce magnificent Merlots, in particular in 2012.
It is the ideal configuration to find the balance we look for in a great Bordeaux wine. The Merlot, we keep 15 to 30 % of in the blending, brings to Pichon what makes Comtesse. A straight, serious, fine and elegant wine with a beautiful tannic background provided by the Cabernets, in balance with the flesh, the smoothness and the aromatic expression in the mid-palate we are offered by the Merlot”, Nicolas Glumineau explains.
A tradition of excellence, faithful and experienced teams … his taking over the position of director, with a technical profile, enables Nicolas to address the press, the different markets, the distributors, the customers, as a representative of the estate endowed with a background which brings more legitimacy to the brand. “I have to be equal to this inheritance. We are all passing through and it is necessary to be worthy of this jewel that the whole world knows and envies us! I am aware of the efforts we have to make”, he adds.
“In Alain Juppé's global project Osez Bordeaux, the Château is a patron of the Center for Wine and Civilization. It seemed logical to us to participate in the project and to promote the commitment of the Château and the dynamism of our region outside our department and outside France. This project enables big properties to give Bordeaux back what Bordeaux offered them”, Nicolas Glumineau adds.
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In the spring of 2022, Champagne Philipponnat celebrated its 500th anniversary during two exceptional dinners, in Reims and in Paris. Charles Philipponnat, the 15th generation, who has been...