Serena Sutcliffe MW has been named a Chevalier dans l'Ordre National de la Légion d'Honneur in recognition of her contribution to the appreciation of French wine, says Decanter.com.

The head of Sotheby's International Wine Department, Sutcliffe is the first British member of the wine trade to receive the honour. She is nevertheless in good global company: American wine critic Robert Parker was made a Chevalier in 1999.

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, Lord Mountbatten and Winston Churchill were all awarded the Grand Cross - the highest of the five orders instituted by Napoleon III in 1852 - while film director Martin Scorsese and celebrity chef Julia Child were named Chevaliers in the past. This year's recipients include fashion designer Valentino and Hajime Sasaki, Chairman of NEC.

Indians honoured with this French equivalent of a knighthood in the past have included the acclaimed film director Satyajit Ray, Tamil thespian Sivaji Ganesan, activist-writer Arundhati Roy and Goverdhan Mehta, former director of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

"We had a magnum of [Veuve Clicquot] La Grande Dame 1990, which was super," Sutcliffe said in an interview with Decanter.com.

For the complete story, go http://www.decanter.com/news/88834.html