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| Bernard Magrez |
The morning after I arrived in Bordeaux for the En Primeur 2007 tasting,
a day-old-friend Niko Duran from Croatia, told me at the breakfast table
in Chateau Lafaurie Peyraguey that he was driving to Château Pape
Clément for tasting their '07s. Our first session- Sauternes wine
tasting, wasn't scheduled till the afternoon. So I decided to tag along
too for a quick overview of their wines.
An Overview
An overview it was! There were not only wines from this
well-known Grand Cru Classé Chateau de Graves, located in Pessac,
10 minutes from Mérignac airport, the principal airport for Bordeaux,
but over 100 wines from vineyards Bernard owns around the world.
Chateau Pape Clement
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| Chateau Pape Clement |
The beautiful Chateau, not a rarity in Bordeaux, had lush green and manicured
gardens that would put most of ours to shame. I couldn't help wondering
how many maalis would have been employed for the up-keep and whether
they doubled up as grape pickers during the season or whether they pruned
vines as well as the hedges around!
Sebastien Rambeaud, the Sales Manager for Asia and his
colleague Jan Visser, who were both planning to come to India in the next
few days were on hand to guide us through.
'This wine is from a small parcel of land measuring .8
hA.' 'Oh, this one is from a vineyard Bernard just sold out!' 'Would you
like to taste this one, he is going to sell this parcel very soon, though.'
How about trying this one? He is partnering with a friend to help him.'
'Try this you'll like it, he is producing this wine with the famous French
singer.' Sebastien kept us swirling and swishing and spitting double quick.
Bernard's Yards of Vines
I knew he owned the Clement. I also knew he had done
gone through some tough negotiations a couple of years ago and was able
to pocket Chateau La Tour Carnet, the Grand Cru Classé property
in Haut Medoc at the 1855 classification in his collection. I did know
he owned a Grand Cru Chateau in St. Emilion; and many award winning wines
came from some of his pocket-sized vineyards.
But it is not easy to keep track of all the vineyards
he owns. Bernard Magrez owns 21 vineyards in various parts of Bordeaux
alone and 6 in Languedoc-Roussillon, though some of them less than a hectare
in size. Add to that 8-9 more owned in foreign lands and one wonders if
he collects them like sports cars!
Producing Top quality wines at all his properties is
his passion and he does believe one can make money by producing quality
wines and marketing them accordingly.
Bernard the Billionaire
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| Beautifully manicured lawns of ‘Pape Clement’ |
Bernard is also a billionaire. No, he did not become one by selling wines!
There are very few in the world like Ernest Gallo, who rose to be billionaires
by making and selling wine. He became one by being in the property business-
through 'the right time, right place, right opportunity' business model.
Like our Mr. K P Singh of the DLF group , the biggest
developer in India, who I worked with for a few years just before the
first plot of land was sold by DLF in Gurgaon for a mere Rs. 90 a yard
($2.0 a mtr.), in 1982-83. KP, as he is known by his friends, shares his
passion for drinking fine wines but not producing them- yet.
When I met Bernard, he met me very affectionately, we
exchanged a few pleasantries, talked politely about the 2007 vintage and
he did mention they were not present in India and that he would like to
be.
Buys of Bernard
We did not talk about the 220 hectare of property he
had bought a month ago, in Colchagua Valley in Chile, an hour drive south
of Santiago, with the purpose of making high-end wines. He has recently
entered Japan with the purchase of a 6 hA property to make quality white
wines too. Italy is next on his radar.
He has sold off three of his vineyards in Bordeaux and
is looking to put a few more on the market. 'We must be in the top 5-6
producers in any country we are in,' he says, 'or I like to get out,'
he adds.
One wonders if India fascinates him enough to buy vineyards
(though the laws are too cumbersome for him to buy land, even if he wanted
to).
Bernard the Brand
Bernard Magrez is also a brand-at least in Napa where
he makes Cuvée Exception of the same label. His passion for quality
has taken him to buy vineyards outside France also, in Argentina, Uruguay,
Spain, Portugal, Morocco and now in Chile and Japan, even though the quantity
of production is as low as 2400 bottles a year in Napa and 2500 in Toro,
Spain.
'People there tell me they have been growing vines for
1,200 years, Bernard says of his new vineyard in Japan. "The winemaking
there is similar to Bordeaux, but the vine growing is very different,"
Apart from the excitement of making quality white wine in Japan - a damp
climate for grapes - he also hopes to increase the sale of Bernard Magrez
labels.
The Straight Shooter
Magrez believes in telling it like it is-he can well
afford to. Vocal against the infamous Evin's law passed in2005 to curb
advertising of alcoholic products and which has seemingly caused a slump
in wine consumption in France, he says, ' for me the Evin's Law is a farce.
He is the man who wanted to be well-known and who wanted to be known as
having made a complete success of it. I don't think he has done any service
to the country.'
He is so sure of the quality of his wine produced in
various estates that each bottle has his signatures at the lower part,
'to recognise the sign of excellence.'
As an outsider in the clannish Bordeaux he does not
socially mix around much but has no time to maintain the friendships in
the local community either.
Bernard the un-Beaten
The rare quality of this Bordeaux 'outsider' can be
gauged from the motto he wears on his neck-ties for the last 30 years
and makes his collaborators wear. The words in Latin translating into,
'Never Beaten,' best describe the man who prefers to be a loner but is
firm and determined to get what he wants.
Magrez in India
Whether we shall soon find the Bernard Magrez brand
in India or get him to take up the challenge of making top red or whites
in India is too early to tell, and the signal may be too faint to reach
him. His experience in China has not been too happy and he may not want
to want action in this region, not for a while anyway.
By this time, Sebastien Rambeaud his Sales Manager for
the region would have gone back with stories of excitement, high expectations
and taxes, higher growth in domestic wine consumption in the Paradox that
is India.
Perhaps our wine producers and the real estate and real
billionaires are listening!?
Subhash Arora
April 12, 2008
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