IWC2017 Lifetime Achievement Award - Madame May-Eliane de Lencquesaing скачать в хорошем качестве

IWC2017 Lifetime Achievement Award - Madame May-Eliane de Lencquesaing

The winner of our lifetime achievement is often described as “formidable”, both in English and French. Now into her tenth decade, with ten grandchildren and ten great grandchildren to match, she remains a considerable force of nature. “When I wake up in the morning,” she told one interviewer, “I always say to myself: let’s be positive and creative. What can I improve around me?” She has enjoyed a diverse career as a nurse, an employee of the Alliance Française and a politician, but it is for her achievements in wine that she is most famous. She took over a super second growth Bordeaux château in 1978 and ran it with passion and considerable success for nearly 30 years before it was sold, for reasons of succession, to Champagne Louis Roederer in 2006. But Madame, as she is known to the people who work for her, wasn’t done yet. At the age of 79, she decided to create a new brand in Stellenbosch, making her first wines in 2008. Located on the Simonsberg, her winery has established itself as one of the best in the Cape, specialising, appropriately enough, in Bordeaux varieties, but also making impressive Shiraz and Chardonnay. She still takes an active role in the running of the business, visiting the estate on a regular basis to see her vines and part of her celebrated glassware collection. Only last year, she totally remodeled the tasting area, always searching for perfection. As well as focusing on the quality of her wines, she is also a philanthropist, providing free healthcare and literacy programmes for her workers and giving them the chance to buy their own houses. Our winner tonight has already received many awards, including the Légion d’Honneur and the Ordre du Mérite Agricole in her native country. But tonight we wanted to add one more, recognising her remarkable and on-going contribution to the world of wine. Anyone who has been lucky enough to drink a bottle of the legendry 1982 Pichon-Lalande and to see the foundations she laid at the château will recognise what she achieved in Bordeaux; anyone who has tasted recent vintage of her Lady May red will recognise what she has achieved in South Africa. Few people make such a mark on two continents. Ladies and gentleman, please join us in welcoming May-Eliane de Lencquesaing the winner of our 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award, to the stage.