Goodbye Paul Pontallier, Legendary Winemaker

(Edited on April 2, 2015)

 

Paul Pontallier was one of the best wine tasters I knew. His precision in tasting was second to none. We joked together about it for 33 years. He could hit a spittoon with one tiny drop of wine from about five or ten yards away.

“You don’t need a lot of wine in your mouth to properly taste a wine,” he always said, whenever he gave a precision shot to the spittoon. 

Paul, the managing director of Bordeaux’s famous first growth, Château Margaux, died on March 27 from cancer. He was 59. He will be greatly missed in the wine world. I will miss him as a friend and cohort. I went to his funeral today at Saint Seurin Basilica, Place des Martyrs de la Résistance in Bordeaux, and more than 1000 people attended.

So many people admired the great winemaker. He embodied a new moment in the history of Bordeaux when the winemaker became as important, or more important than the owner. He was an icon for a generation of winemakers and wine drinkers including myself. He made some of the greatest wines of Bordeaux.

Corinne Mentzelopoulos, the owner of Château Margaux, gave a solemn and warm eulogy to Paul, thanking him for helping her acheive her dreams at the wine estate. His four children also spoke of their wonderful father at the service: Guillaume, Thibault (who also works for Margaux), Alice and Antoine. Thibault compared his father to a wonderful glass of Margaux with finesse and strength.

His wife, Béatrice, spoke of the thousands of messages and emails with condolences following his death and the dignity and warmth of her late husband.

I always looked forward to seeing Paul for each en primeur tasting in the spring, when he would enthusiastically describe the challenges and successes of a particular vintage. He had a certain style and flair in tasting, which was a combination of tasting, spitting, acrobats, and ballet. His wine tasting pirouettes were legendary, just like so many of his wines.

I met Paul in 1983, when I first visited the first growth as a young editor with The Wine Spectator. He was a dynamic winemaker straight out of university although he spent almost two years in French military service promoting winemaking in Chile. He was hand-picked for Margaux by the legendary consulting enologist Emile Peynaud and he always was grateful to work at the property. He spent his whole professional career at the first growth. 

We hit it off right away in the early 1980s and spent lots of time together tasting and drinking wines in Bordeaux and other parts of the world. I remember spending the night on his couch a number of times in the 1980s after long nights of tasting. 

He inspired me many times during our careers together. I like to think that it was partially his idea that I spent so much time in Italy and Tuscany exploring the wines of the region. We went together to Tuscany in the late 1980s for a tasting of Bordeaux and Tuscan cabernets and Paul told me in awe while visiting Chianti Classico that, “if any place in the world should make great wines, it has to be Tuscany. The beauty of the region is unmatched.”

He was equally keen on Chile and California, even though he was always low key about his winemaking in the latter. Bordeaux, and Margaux, were his true loves, however. And he refused to say anywhere was better. I always asked him what his favorite wine was that he made and it seemed hard to get him to pick just one! 

Granted, he made so many astounding wines including 1986, 1989, 1990, 1995, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2009 and 2010. So many were perfect wines. They are legends in wine history.

I am looking forward to tasting his 2015 from barrel on Wednesday, which could be his best ever. His sure-shot spitting won’t be at the cellar but his heart and soul will still be warmly felt with each sip of his latest wine.

Enjoy the video below with Paul from 2011 when he describes his favorite wines and other things. I miss him.

 

 

Photo (from left to right): Pierre Lawton, James, Alexandra Petit-Mentzelopoulos, daughter of Margauex owner Corinne Mentzelopoulos and Paul Pontallier