My Journey with Wine

My Journey with Wine tells the exceptional story of a woman whose destiny was to lead her from a life in a chateau to a garrison in the Midwest, from Bordeaux to Beijing, from the wine estates of Médoc to the Cape vineyards of South Africa.

May-Eliane de Lencquesaing, now 99, comes from an ancient line of Bordeaux wine growers and brokers and an Anglo-Spanish family from the Philippines. Having married a career army officer, she led a nomadic life with her children before drawing lots to determine the allocation of her father's legacy and ending up with the vineyard of Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande in Pauillac. She rebuilt the reputation of this estate's wines to rival the best in France and promoted them across the world to great acclaim.  Then, at the age of seventy-eight, she moved to South Africa for a new adventure in wine-making, creating the magnificent Glenelly Estate.

These captivating pages take the reader behind the scenes of the working life of a wine-maker and what makes a great Bordeaux wine. They reveal the anguish and the elation,  the physical hardships and stimulation of the senses, the tough financial decisions and the sublime creativity, and all of it at the mercy of the weather.

A force of nature herself, May-Eliane de Lencquesaing describes her journey punctuated by surprises and reversals, leading to France's highest award of recognition, Officer of the Legion of Honour. A Grande Dame and focused businesswoman, but also deeply caring of the comfort and development of others, she offers an inspiring lesson in tenacity and humanity. She is living proof that a thirst for knowledge always defies age.