Nov 23: The news last week of Jean-Guillaume Prats, CEO of the wine division of LVMH he joined in 2013 came as such a surprise that LVMH did not even announce the replacement for Prats who has notionally got promoted from being the CEO of a Super Second Cos d’Estournel to the First Growth Château Lafite, signalling a move and perhaps strong affinity back to his roots in Bordeaux
Apparently if you love Bordeaux, you might not become a fan of Champagne! After leaving Cos d’Estournel in St. Estephe, Bordeaux in January 2013 to join the Moët-Hennessy’s wine division of LVMH in January 2013, Jean-Guillaume Prats has decided to come back to Bordeaux, this time as president and CEO of the First Growth Château Lafite.
Prats is a part of the new management change planned in March 2018 when the owner and Chairman of Chateaux Lafite, Baron Eric de Rothschild will hand over the reins to his daughter Saskia de Rothschild. At the same time the current CEO Christophe Salin will pass the baton to Jean-Guillaume Prats and assume the role of Advisor for a smooth transition.
Incidentally, Christophe Salin received the award for ‘International entrepreneur of the year’ from the German publication group Meininger in March this year for his successful work for Domaines Barons de Rothschild (Lafite).
Prats had been the President and CEO of Château Cos d’Estournel since 2000. In fact his father had owned the estate until he was obliged to sell it off due to financial difficulties. Jean- Guillaume had visited India on a couple of occasions. I had also met him once at Cos when I took a group of members of the Delhi Wine Club to visit Vinexpo and Bordeaux in 2003 and interviewed him in Delhi.
Quite fond of India due to his old ancestral connections with the Indian Royalty and trade, he would hopefully visit India as the CEO of the First Growth. His move to LVMH then was also a surprise and was reported by delWine in October 2012.
Prats had steered Cos to greater heights when it was classified unofficially as a Super Second because of the quality and high precise it could command. He was also involved in the much discussed case of the acquisition of the California-based Chateaux Montelena which had its white wine win against the top French wines in the Judgement of Paris. The deal had fallen through and was reported by delWine. In an exclusive interview during his visit to India in 2008, he had told delWine that his company never stepped back from the agreement to buy Chateau Montelena and still hoped the deal would be on tracks and within a couple of months it can be closed. Unfortunately the deal eventually fell through.
According to a Statement released last week and reported by the Drinks Business, Eric de Rothschild, now 77, will hand over the chairmanship of Domaines Baron de Rothschild to his daughter who has been co-director of the group for the last two years.
A graduate of HEC Paris and Columbia University she started her career as a journalist at the International New York Times on the paper’s Paris and West African desks.
She will be the second female head of Bordeaux’s five grand cru estates, the other being Corinne Mentzelopoulos of Château Margaux.
Eric de Rothschild will remain a managing partner of Lafite. Replacement for Prats has not been announced by Moet Hennessey so far.
Subhash Arora
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