|
|
Jean-Michel Cazes, owner of Château Lynch Bages ****, Cordeillan-Bages in Pauillac and Château Les Ormes de Pez in St. Estephe, died on 28 June at the age of 88.
After an education at French elite schools and an officer's career in the air force as well as a career at IBM in the USA, he returned to Pauillac in 1973 and took over the family-owned Lynch-Bages winery from his father. Until 2000, he also managed the wine investments of the French insurance group Axa. As head of Axa Millésimes, he acquired prominent wine estates all over Europe: In Bordeaux Château Pichon Longueville Baron, Château Suduiraut, Cantenac Brown and in Portugal the port wine producer Quinta do Noval.
Jean-Michel Cazes is considered an innovator of Médoc wines and a pioneer in the commercial development of export markets, especially in America and Asia. He introduced the Michel Lynch brand wine and turned the little-regarded Château Lynch Bages into one of the most sought-after and highest-rated wine estates in Bordeaux. It was not until 2022 that he published his autobiography "Bordeaux Grands Crus, la reconquête",in which he recounted both his life and how Bordeaux overcame various crises in the course of the 20th century.
(al / source: vitisphere, larvf)