![]() “We could start picking Friday,” Jean-Paul continued, “but I’d prefer to wait until after the weekend. Gaspard was not surprised the weather had been warm and fairly dry all summer. “Just look at these grapes! This year could be even better than 2005.” “I think we are almost there,” Jean-Paul called out as Gaspard approached. It was a good business and had kept his children comfortable, but he sometimes worried whether it would sustain future generations of de Sauveterres. ![]() The rest were sold to other estates on condition that their origin would not be revealed. The estate used the best of the remaining grapes to produce a second wine, the Puiné, averaging 200,000 bottles per year. It now sold about 150,000 bottles each year of its Grand Vin du Château de Vallois, a combination of carefully selected cabernet sauvignon, merlot, petit verdot, and cabernet franc grapes. In time, the château produced perhaps the greatest of Bordeaux’s five grands crus classés. Gaspard and Jean-Paul had overhauled the vineyards, improved the drainage, and subtly adjusted the blend. In a ranking of Bordeaux wine estates that recognizes their long-term track record in quality and reputation, de Vallois had in 1855 been classified as a Premier Grand Cru Classé (First Growth), which allowed the estate to command top prices for its wines. The essential ingredient had always been there: a terroir with the ideal soil and microclimate, which, according to the French, determines a wine’s character. The estate had fallen into a slow decline under its last owner, but together, Gaspard and Jean-Paul had restored it to its former glory. He had hired Jean-Paul, then a young agricultural engineer, 30 years ago after buying Château de Vallois. Turning into the fields, Gaspard saw Jean-Paul Oudineaux, his estate manager, crouching over a vine and carefully examining its grapes. Gaspard had the remaining 50%, and although François had taken over day-to-day operations five years ago, the elder de Sauveterre would certainly weigh in on any change in strategy, particularly one as dramatic as Claire’s. But he agreed to give his niece a hearing after all, she had inherited her mother’s 25% share of the estate, the same stake he held. When Gaspard mentioned the encounter to François de Sauveterre-his son, Claire’s uncle, and the château’s CEO-later that evening, François’ first reaction was to raise a skeptical eyebrow. She wanted de Vallois to enter the “affordable luxury” market, selling directly to customers, as some of the other top traditional Bordeaux estates had done. And although she knew that de Vallois had been steadily profitable since the 1980s, she worried about what might happen if the estate allowed less-expensive, lower-quality winemakers, particularly those from outside the traditional wine-making regions of Europe, to capture and retain the next generation of customers. In her opinion, younger wine enthusiasts were being priced out of high-end French wines. Gaspard had expected her to come for the harvest, of course-she never missed it-but he had been surprised to hear about her plans to join the family business and radically change the centuries-old enterprise.Ĭlaire had explained her idea as simply as possible. ![]() After graduating from one of France’s elite grandes écoles she had worked for a top consulting firm before earning an MBA at Insead. The quiet, cool air cut through the thoughts that had been swirling in his head since his granddaughter burst into his study yesterday with an audacious proposal.Ĭlaire de Valhubert had grown up on the estate but had moved to Paris following the sudden death of her mother, Gaspard’s daughter, seven years ago. ![]() He loved these hours when the rising sun bathed the misty landscape in shades of yellow and gray. He quickened his pace down the long, well-kept alley through the wrought-iron gates to start his ritual morning walk through the vineyards. This was the season he and his team had worked toward the whole year any day now the bell for the harvest, the famous vendanges, would ring. The 75-year-old owner of Château de Vallois, a famous wine-producing estate in the Bordeaux region of France, felt a familiar thrill. While the late September days were still warm, he could feel autumn approaching. Gaspard de Sauveterre shivered as he stepped out of a side entrance to his château. 507-033), by John Deighton, Vincent Dessain, Leyland Pitt, Daniela Beyersdorfer, and Anders Sjoman. This one is based on the HBS Case Study “ Marketing Château Margaux” (case no. HBR’s fictionalized case studies present dilemmas faced by leaders in real companies and offer solutions from experts.
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