Is chalky soil really the secret to great English wine—or just clever marketing? What makes it so difficult for English wine to break into the North American market? Is it time for a classified system of English wine?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Henry Jeffreys, author of the award-winning book Vines in a Cold Climate.

You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks

Giveaway

Three of you are going to win a copy of his terrific book, Vines in a Cold Climate. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at natalie@nataliemaclean.com and let me know that you’ve posted a review of the podcast. I’ll choose three people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!

Highlights

How did Henry become a wine critic for The Lady, a women's magazine?

What was it light to interview wine pioneer Stuart Moss?

How did Henry’s skepticism about biodynamics nearly cause a problem with Gérard Bertrand?

What inspired Henry to write Empire of Booze?

What was the most surprising thing Henry learned while researching the book?

How did Henry’s first experience of English wine go?

What unusual vineyard experience totally changed his perception?

How much wine does England produce?

Where are the main wine regions in England?

Are the benefits of the chalky soils in certain parts of England overrated?

Is it time for a classified system of English wine?

Key Takeaways

We always hear about the chalk or the White Cliffs of Dover. Do you think that has an influence or is it overrated? Henry thinks it is overrated and it was the story that sold. It was a good marketing angle, and they thought that it was the best place. He thinks almost everything else is more important than whether it's chalk or clay, and once you've got everything else right, then you can argue about that.

Henry observes that selling to Canada and the US is quite complicated. If you sell to Japan, you can get just one person to import it. Whereas in North America you have complicated systems by state and province. You need somebody on the ground selling. Plus, Nova Scotia makes a similar style of sparkling wines. California has some pretty good sparkling wines. And then once the English bubblies land in the market, the price is pretty much the same as Champagne. Why would you unless you wanted something quite unusual, right?

Henry says that there is now a PDO, or Protected Designation of Origin, a European geographical indication for one county, which is Sussex. But it's really too early for it, because they've only been making quality wine there for 30 years. The appellation contrôlée is, ideally, codifying hundreds of years of tradition. Plus, a lot of producers buy from different counties. So Nyetimber will have vineyards in Kent and Sussex and Hampshire. So that makes a nonsense of it. And also, there's sort of bits of Sussex that are very much like Kent, so you so there's no point drawing a line where the old county barrier is. It's like, it'd be like, sort of cutting the Médoc in half. It doesn't really make any sense. I think the only place where it makes sense is Essex, because you've got the soil.

About Henry Jeffreys

Henry Jeffreys worked in the wine trade and publishing before becoming a writer. He’s a contributor to Good Food, The Guardian, Harpers Wine & Spirit, and The Spectator, wine columnist for The Critic magazine, and has appeared on radio, TV, and The Rest is History podcast. He won Fortnum & Mason Drink Writer of the Year in 2022 and is the author of four books, including Empire of Booze and Vines in a Cold Climate, which was shortlisted for the James Beard awards and won Fortnum & Mason drink book of the year. Along with Tom Parker Bowles, he hosts the Intoxicating History podcast. He lives in Faversham, Kent, with his wife and two daughters.

To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/334.

How can a vineyard disaster become an unexpected opportunity to innovate? How does storytelling transform wine marketing? What innovative pairings go beyond red wine and red meat?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Sally Evans, author of the new memoir, Make The Midlife Move: A Practical Guide to Flourish after Fifty.

You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks

Giveaway

Three of you are going to win a copy of her terrific new memoir, Make The Midlife Move: A Practical Guide to Flourish after Fifty. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at natalie@nataliemaclean.com and let me know that you’ve posted a review of the podcast. I’ll choose three people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!

Highlights

Are you ever too old to start over?

How do we build resilience as we get older?

How did Sally’s harsh initiation with the 2017 frost in Bordeaux shape her approach to winemaking?

Why did Sally decide not to pursue organic certification?

How did it feel to present Sally’s first wine in 2018 at Bordeaux's En Primeur?

Which aspects of the story does Sally hope critics understand beyond what's in the glass?

Beyond scores and medals, what forms of recognition have been most meaningful to Sally as a winemaker?

What was it like to be sworn into the Confrérie des Gentilshommes de Fronsac?

What was the steepest learning curve in selling a physical product like wine?

How has Sally found creative ways to market and sell Château George 7?

Why should you incorporate storytelling in marketing wine?

How did Sally pivot to minimize the negative impact of COVID on the winery?

What are some unusual pairings between vegetarian dishes and red wines?

How do you know when it's time to move on from something you've built?

What goals would Sally like to accomplish before selling the winery?

Key Takeaways

As Sally shares, she was still living in the southeast of France when the previous owner of her vineyard rang to tell her that the frost had destroyed everything. While now we have barrel rooms and we have thermoregulation, we made a decent wine and that proved the process. That was a good example of how in midlife we can look at something that looks really bad, something that's happened, and actually turn around and make something good out of it.

Sally says that when she hosts wine tastings, she always talks about the occasions when they're going to drink the wine: I think there's one thing in marketing where you profile the customer but I think with wine, often it's around the occasion and what you're eating and who's over and so on. That's how we drink wine. We drink it for occasions.

Sally observes that when we look at the back of most red wine bottles, especially from Bordeaux, it says drink with red meat: I thought, well, that's not really helpful. I have a very close friend, Wendy Narby, she and I sat down and said, red wine goes fabulously with veggie dishes and so we've done it as a passion project where we talk about how to pair plant-based food with different Bordeaux wines.

About Sally Evans

After an international corporate career based in Paris and the South of France, Sally Evans completely changed her life in her fifties. She created an independent winery in Bordeaux, completely on her own with no prior experience or knowledge of wine. She threw herself into wine studies, bought a parcel of mature vines with some dilapidated buildings and created a brand-new wine chateau. She now has a boutique winery, Château George 7, in Fronsac on the right bank of Bordeaux. Her wines win high critical acclaim from leading wine critics and publications and are listed in Michelin-starred restaurants and top venues across Europe and the US. Sally has also created a wine tourism destination for tastings and events, winning accolades for its exceptional wine experience. Alongside wine, her other passion is supporting women to follow their dreams.

To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/333.

What’s one of the most challenging aspects of being a new winemaker in Bordeaux, especially if you’re a middle-aged foreigner who is making wine for the first time? How did the Bordeaux sub-region of Fronsac lose its fame after being a region favoured by French royalty? What if the only thing holding you back from a fresh start, a new project or a major life change is you?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Sally Evans, author of the new memoir, Make The Midlife Move: A Practical Guide to Flourish after Fifty.

You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks

Giveaway

Three of you are going to win a copy of her terrific new memoir, Make The Midlife Move: A Practical Guide to Flourish after Fifty. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at natalie@nataliemaclean.com and let me know that you’ve posted a review of the podcast. I’ll choose three people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!

Highlights

Which pivotal moment sparked Sally’s interest in learning more about wine?

What was Sally’s career before wine?

Why did she decide to transition into a wine career at 52?

How is Make The Midlife Move different from other books of the genre?

What was the most surprising insight Sally discovered while writing her book?

What was the most challenging part of writing Make The Midlife Move?

Where is Bordeaux, and specifically Fronsac, geographically located?

Why has Fronsac often been overlooked in favour of more well-known regions?

What made Sally choose Fronsac when deciding to start winemaking?

What’s the story behind Sally’s winery’s name, Château George 7?

How did Sally overcome the issue of magnum bottles with no capsules to fit?

What was Sally’s most humbling moment in her winemaking career?

Which unexpected challenges does Sally wish someone had warned her about in the early days?

Why did Sally decide to expand into making white wine?

What can you do to manage feelings of impostor syndrome?

Key Takeaways

What’s one of the most challenging aspects of being a new winemaker in Bordeaux, especially if you’re a middle-aged foreigner who is making wine for the first time?

Sally notes that she didn’t realize just how much bureaucracy there was in France with the customs system and appellation rules around winemaking. There's a lot of rules which are good, but, there were so many rules. She also didn't really think through how long it takes to make a wine. So it's quite a long time that you're financing everything before you can actually start earning money.

How did the Bordeaux sub-region of Fronsac lose its fame after being a region favoured by French royalty?

Fronsac had the first wines that were produced and went up to the Royal Court of Versailles, but as time went by, areas like Saint-Émilion overtook Fronsac in terms of notoriety. When the climate was a little bit cooler as well, some of the wines tended to be a little bit more rustic, maybe not quite as ripe or as elegant as they could be.

About Sally Evans

After an international corporate career based in Paris and the South of France, Sally Evans completely changed her life in her fifties. She created an independent winery in Bordeaux, completely on her own with no prior experience or knowledge of wine. She threw herself into wine studies, bought a parcel of mature vines with some dilapidated buildings and created a brand-new wine chateau. She now has a boutique winery, Château George 7, in Fronsac on the right bank of Bordeaux. Her wines win high critical acclaim from leading wine critics and publications and are listed in Michelin-starred restaurants and top venues across Europe and the US. Sally has also created a wine tourism destination for tastings and events, winning accolades for its exceptional wine experience. Alongside wine, her other passion is supporting women to follow their dreams.

To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/332.

How does oak aging change wine and whisky flavour, colour and texture? What do glass, gears, and automatons have to do with the invention of distillation? Why is yeast such an essential tool in scientific research and wine production, especially in the face of climate change?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Adam Rogers, author of the New York Times bestseller Proof: The Science of Booze.

You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks

Giveaway

One of you is going to win a copy of his terrific new book, Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at natalie@nataliemaclean.com and let me know that you’ve posted a review of the podcast. I’ll choose one person randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!

Highlights

What are some of the traits that new yeasts are being developed for?

Why does sugar deserve the title of most important molecule in the world?

How is human saliva used in the production of Chicha, one of the oldest types of alcoholic beverage?

What is microbial terroir and how does it affect the flavour profile of fermented drinks?

Why does Adam describe distillation as the apotheosis of human life on Earth?

How does the process of distillation work?

What is the most important thing we can learn from the alchemists?

Is the shape of a distillation still important to the process?

What's happening to spirits while they’re aging in barrels?

Have there been successful innovations to age wine and spirits more quickly?

Why do some people lose their sense of smell after a concussion?

Key Takeaways

When you're drinking whisky, and it's that beautiful amber color, that's all from the wood. It's completely clear when it goes into a barrel and it's brown when it comes out. So color is part of what changes, and all those flavours. In the process of aging, as the temperature goes up and down, the pores in the wood open and close. As they open, the liquid gets drawn into that layer inside of the wood, and then gets pushed back out. So there's this kind of back-and-forth process, which is why so many of the experimental attempts to accelerate the aging process use heat to try to cycle it faster.

Distillation was developed in the first two to 300 years of the Common Era. People were starting to transform naturally occurring phenomena into a technology that could exist in a temple or in the home. Distillation is one of those technologies, along with a lot of automatons and the simple machines, gears, screws and the steam engines.

Yeasts are a workhorse organism in laboratories because it’s very easy to change their traits and genetics. They share DNA with each other, and when they grow, they mutate very quickly. Generation to generation change. So you can use classic animal or microbial husbandry techniques to change them as well. This can become especially important as climate change changes the regions that are important to wine.

About Adam Rogers

Adam Rogers is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, where he writes about technology, culture, and the ways they overlap. Prior to joining BI, Adam was a longtime editor and writer at WIRED, where his article “The Science of Why No One Agrees on the Color of This Dress” was the second-most-read thing on the entire internet in 2015.

Adam’s WIRED feature story on a mysterious fungus that grows on whisky warehouses won a AAAS/Kavli science journalism award — and led to his 2014 New York Times bestseller Proof: The Science of Booze. Adam is also the author of the 2021 book Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern. He has also written for Alta, the Atlantic, National Geographic, the New York Times, Slate, and Smithsonian, and may be the only journalist to attend both San Diego Comic-Con and the White House Correspondents Dinner.

To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/331.

How does language about wine impact the way we experience and enjoy wine? How does reporting on alcohol science compare to other scientific topics? Why can yeast be described as a nano-technological machine?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Adam Rogers, author of the New York Times bestseller Proof: The Science of Booze.

You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks

Giveaway

One of you is going to win a copy of his terrific new book, Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at natalie@nataliemaclean.com and let me know that you’ve posted a review of the podcast. I’ll choose one person randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!

Highlights

What was Adam’s experience at a fancy restaurant in Chicago where food critic Jeffrey Steingarten was a fellow patron?

How did a New York restaurant experience expose Adam to the wild science of winemaking?

Why did Adam nearly have an existential moment while writing about the science of grapes?

How does reporting on alcohol science compare to other scientific topics?

Which moments did Adam want to capture in the book?

What were the most surprising insights Adam uncovered while writing Proof and what was the most difficult part of writing it?

Why does Adam describe yeast as a nano-technological machine?

Which facts about yeast did Adam find fascinating?

What have archaeologists discovered about the role of alcohol in early human civilization?

Which cultural approach to alcohol consumption did Adam find most interesting?

How do modern brewers and distillers safeguard their yeast?

Key Takeaways

Adam recounts the story of the couple sitting next to him ordering a dessert wine. The diner asked, “Is that a Vin du Glacier or a noble rot?” The two different ways to make a sweet wine. Just the fact that the diner was informed enough to know that there were these two methods would have a bearing on what he would be tasting. Here was this person operationalizing that interest to make his meal better. He wanted to have more fun.

If you're reporting on science, you have the scientists trying to understand something new or reinterpret understanding and then there are people who that's going to affect. With winemaking, you have practitioners who are often not themselves, scientists. So they are craftspeople in a stakeholder role too.

Louis Pasteur said I think there is an impossibly small, invisible, living creature that eats sugar and poops alcohol, and so the best chemists in the world at that time looked at that as a hypothesis and said, You're nuts. Nobody knew how inert chemicals could be alive. Nobody knew what the connection was. Those things are enzymes and understanding what enzymes do in a living body, that's what gave rise to biochemistry, and ultimately gave rise to biotechnology. That one insight.

About Adam Rogers

Adam Rogers is a senior correspondent at Business Insider, where he writes about technology, culture, and the ways they overlap. Prior to joining BI, Adam was a longtime editor and writer at WIRED, where his article “The Science of Why No One Agrees on the Color of This Dress” was the second-most-read thing on the entire internet in 2015.

Adam’s WIRED feature story on a mysterious fungus that grows on whisky warehouses won a AAAS/Kavli science journalism award — and led to his 2014 New York Times bestseller Proof: The Science of Booze. Adam is also the author of the 2021 book Full Spectrum: How the Science of Color Made Us Modern. He has also written for Alta, the Atlantic, National Geographic, the New York Times, Slate, and Smithsonian, and may be the only journalist to attend both San Diego Comic-Con and the White House Correspondents Dinner.

To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/330.

What makes Sangiovese a difficult wine to grow and make? Why should you pay attention to the white wines of Tuscany? What do you need to know about Tuscany’s Vin Santo?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Susan Keevil

You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks

Giveaway

Two of you are going to win a copy of her terrific book, On Tuscany: From Brunello to Bolgheri, Tales from the Heart of Italy. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at natalie@nataliemaclean.com and let me know that you’ve posted a review of the podcast. I’ll choose two people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!

Highlights

What are some common mistakes people make when comparing Tuscan wines to those from other regions?

What are Super Tuscans and how did they come to be?

Why did these rebel wines capture the imagination of the world in the 70s and 80s?

What’s the new Super Tuscan counter culture about?

Why did Brunello di Montalcino achieve icon status?

What makes Sangiovese difficult to grow and why doesn’t it tend to thrive in North America?

What motivated Susan to include sections on Tuscan white wines and Vin Santo in the book?

How is Vin Santo made and why is there so much variety?

What makes Tuscan olive oil so special?

How can you best pair Tuscan wines with food?

Why would Susan love to be able to share a bottle of wine with Queen Elizabeth II?

Key Takeaways

Susan notes that Sangiovese is like Pinot Noir in that it likes certain terroir, particular soils, the winds of Tuscany, and it is quite a sensitive grape. You can't overproduce it. It responds differently to different sites and it's not good in every vintage. It has so many parallels with Pinot Noir. They don't taste the same, but they behave the same.

Susan likes an underdog story like the white wines of Tuscany, because they're only like 10% of the wines produced, though she believes that the Trebbiano grape is like the evil twin. In the book, Emily O'Hare writes about grapes like Vernaccia, Vermentino and Ansonica that are producing some great wines so we should watch out for them. There's another lovely story about wines of the small island called Giglio. It was raided by the pirate Barbarossa, and he sent all the inhabitants away to be slaves in Constantinople. But he brought back people from a village in Greece, and they bought the grape called Ansonica with them and so those vines are still on the island today. Susan thinks white wines are going to be more important for Tuscany.

If you're going to find a comparison, Susan says that Tokaji is a really good one, because it has that bracing acidity that the Italians love as well. But also, you can't generalize with it. It's a 3,000 year-old-wine, and every farm makes a different version. In the past, they used to collect these grapes because they couldn't handle all the olives and all the grapes all at once. So they would leave some of the grapes in the drying lofts, up in the roofs. They would dry, and concentrate, and the sugars would get sweeter. When everything settled in November or March or February, they would make a wine from these beautiful sweet grapes. And they all have their own natural yeast from the air. And they would seed that yeast into the wine, ferment, and then they would lock it up in its barrel and leave it for seven to eight years. It would shrink, it would ferment. It would stop fermenting. And then at the end of that time, they would open the barrel very carefully, and it was something magnificent, but very, very different. Each producer would have their own.

About Susan Keevil

Susan Keevil is the Editorial Director of Académie du Vin Library, where she has played a pivotal role in establishing and nurturing this esteemed wine publishing house. A former editor of Decanter magazine, she has dedicated her career to the world of wine, from editorial leadership to in-depth exploration of the industry.

To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/329.

How was Brunello discovered? How did the medieval sharecropping system help to shape Tuscany's wine landscape? What's the origin of the iconic black rooster symbol of Chianti Classico?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Susan Keevil, editor of the beautiful hardcover On Tuscany: From Brunello to Bolgheri, Tales from the Heart of Italy.

You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks

Giveaway

Two of you are going to win a copy of her terrific book, On Tuscany: From Brunello to Bolgheri, Tales from the Heart of Italy. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at natalie@nataliemaclean.com and let me know that you’ve posted a review of the podcast. I’ll choose two people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!

Highlights

What inspired Susan to take on the monumental task of compiling and editing On Tuscany?

How is On Tuscany different from other books about the region?

What was the most captivating wine story Susan uncovered while working on the book?

What was the most surprising insight about Tuscany that Susan discovered while putting together On Tuscany?

Why did the timeframe pose the biggest challenge in compiling the book?

How did Susan discover and select literary gems about Tuscany from historic writers?

Why was it important to Susan to write about the Etruscans?

What surprised Susan about the ancient Etruscans’ relationship with wine?

How did the medieval sharecropping system help to shape Tuscany's wine landscape?

What role did the Medici family play in shaping the wine culture in Tuscany?

What was the crisis of Chianti Classico in the 70s and 80s and how did it redefine the future of Tuscan wines?

What's the origin of the iconic black rooster symbol of Chianti Classico?

Why does Tuscany continue to dominate media and culture when it comes to wine?

What’s the history behind the Chianti fiasco?

Key Takeaways

How was Brunello discovered?

Susan says that from 1875 to 1930, the Biondi Santi family hid bottles of brunello bricked up behind a wall. So after the war, they had these wonderful vintages, and they could say, look how it's aged because they didn't know it aged so well at that stage. That was how the discovery of Brunello came about because they brought these cellared wines to feasts and grand occasions with politicians and monarchs.

How did the medieval sharecropping system help to shape Tuscany's wine landscape?

Susan observes that it made it beautiful to start with, because we're talking about small holdings. Small farmers gave 40% of what they produced to the owner, the feudal lord, but they had to eke out a living too. So they had their plot of vines, their plot of olive groves, and they put up their cypress trees to defend them from the winds. That gave the beauty to the countryside, because it makes it a jigsaw, it gives it texture when you look at the hills. That way of farming has set up the beauty of Tuscany that we know today. But of course, there was a lot of poverty that went alongside it.

What's the origin of the iconic black rooster symbol of Chianti Classico?

Susan explains that it came from the 14th century when Siena and Florence were warring as to who was going to be the most powerful of those two towns. They had an agreement that they would send out a horse rider - a knight - early one morning, and wherever those two knights met, would be the boundary between Florence and Siena. The Florentine horse rider set off really early, and they got to within 12 miles of Siena. So the black cockerel is all about strength and having the biggest area.

About Susan Keevil

Susan Keevil is the Editorial Director of Académie du Vin Library, where she has played a pivotal role in establishing and nurturing this esteemed wine publishing house. A former editor of Decanter magazine, she has dedicated her career to the world of wine, from editorial leadership to in-depth exploration of the industry.

To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/328.

What is unique about Famille Perrin in France's approach to running their family wine business? How do traditional wine families differentiate their brands and market their wines in a crowded marketplace? How has the Gaja family of Italy made significant contributions to winemaking and the Piemonte community? What is unique about Famille Perrin in France's approach to running their family wine business?

In this episode of the Unreserved Wine Talk podcast, I'm chatting with Fiona Morrison.

You can find the wines we discussed at https://www.nataliemaclean.com/winepicks

Giveaway

Two of you are going to win a copy of her terrific book, 10 Great Wine Families: A Tour Through Europe. To qualify, all you have to do is email me at natalie@nataliemaclean.com and let me know that you’ve posted a review of the podcast. I’ll choose two people randomly from those who contact me. Good luck!

Highlights

How did the Frescobaldi family make a massive impact on the arts in their transition from banking to wine?

What were the Frescobaldi family's connections to famous figures like Dante Alighieri and Galileo?

How has Angelo Gaja and the Gaja family made significant contributions to winemaking and the Piemonte community?

Why is the Liger-Belair family’s vineyard often known as the greatest in the world?

What is unique about the Famille Perrin's approach to running their family wine business?

How has Álvaro Palacios proven Garnacha’s place as the climate change grape?

How do traditional wine families differentiate their brands and market their wines in a crowded marketplace?

Do these families view their wines as luxury goods?

Key Takeaways

How do traditional wine families differentiate their brands and market their wines in a crowded marketplace?

Simplicity and being true to their roots are two key factors Fiona points out. The labels have become much cleaner and are much more sober these days than they were in the past. The Torres family of Spain have done huge amounts on climate change and carbon neutrality and regeneration. In fact, they are, once again, this year, the most admired wine brand. I think it's very important to show that you're paying your dues and you're doing research. It shows how much they are rooted in their heritage and their history.

How has the Gaja family of Italy made significant contributions to winemaking and the Piemonte community?

If you want to go and taste a Gaja, you need to make a contribution of 300 euros to their various charities they support. Piemonte is still quite a poor region, and so they want to give back to the community and to the area what they can. Of course, people who drink Gaya wines, which are very expensive, can afford to give a charity donation. It's quite unusual, but I think it's a good solution for them.

What is unique about Famille Perrin in France's approach to running their family wine business?

There are seven or eight children from the two brothers, Francois and Jean Pierre. Every single one of them has a job in the winery, with each handling a different aspect of the business. This solidarity between so many children, working together, laughing together, tasting together. This is a blueprint for how to run a family business.

About Fiona Morrison MW

Fiona Morrison is an international Master of Wine, author, writer and wine merchant who lives in Belgium and Bordeaux and holds both British and Belgian nationalities. She became a Master of Wine in 1994 after studying in America and France. Fiona is married to Jacques Thienpont of Le Pin and currently runs the Thienpont family wine merchant business in Belgium and France. The family owns three estates on Bordeaux's right bank: Le Pin (Pomerol), L'IF (St Emilion) and L'Hêtre (Castillon). Winner of several awards for her writing, including the James Beard Award, her latest book, "10 Great Wine Families", has been published internationally.

To learn more, visit https://www.nataliemaclean.com/327.