"What I love about the Pessac-Leognan appellation is that we all know each other and everyone's nice." Jacques Lurton himself is quite nice too − friendly, cheerful and versatile. No doubt it takes this last quality to be president of the appellation, a role he's occupied for the past two years. Other skills are equally necessary: the ability to run an estate and command respect in the vineyard and the cellar, a passion for technology and a common vision, along with a capacity for sharing it. But then, in this case, it also took a dramatic event.

In 2019, when he was 60, Lurton had his life turned upside down when his father André died. He wasn't just any father. This major Bordeaux figure owned no fewer than six estates, including four in Pessac-Leognan: La Louvière, Couhins-Lurton, Rochemorin and Cruzeau. All in all, 600 hectares of vines and 200 employees for one of the largest companies in the region. That year, his son Jacques took over the family business, Vignobles Famille André Lurton, and succeeded him as the head of the appellation.

"Everything was ready for this takeover, and so was I," said Lurton. "Right up to the end of his life, my father didn't want his seven children to be involved in his business. Nonetheless, in 2012, we prepared for the aftermath, and it was planned that I would be the one to take over initially."

Overnight, Lurton terminated his own company, Variety Club, dedicated to wine production and advising on viticulture engineering, for which he visited vineyards all over the world. His territory has now been limited to the Bordeaux region, but he's not complaining. "My only regret is not being able to travel more often to Australia, where I bought my own vineyard on Kangaroo Island."

Oh, Australia! Lurton had fallen madly in love with it. When Le Monde met him in mid-March, he had just gotten off the phone: On the other side of the planet, the grape harvest was in full swing at his estate. So he had been advising his local partner, whom he trained. "I know all the installations because I'm the one who set them up. All my life, I've done remote harvesting, so I know the place and the equipment, and I can easily describe the procedure to follow."

It was in Australia, during his oenology studies, that Lurton discovered the technique of cooling the harvest to preserve the grapes from premature fermentation, which he brought back to Bordeaux. There were many other techniques that he imported from that distant land. "Stainless steel tanks, which are more hygienic, were present in Australia before they were introduced in France. And then I came back with much stricter hygiene protocols, which have become the norm here." He paused for a moment and smiled: "Nobody had any idea in France of what was being done in Australia."

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