The Disruptors

Upending tradition is the name of the game for these maverick creatives.

Reinventing Bordeaux

“It wasn’t inevitable that I’d become part of the business – maybe I would at least in other people’s minds – but that was never communicated to me,” laughs Robert Marie, who joined the family firm, Domaine Clarence Dillon, in 1997. “I’d been a board member since I was 18, though not a particularly active board member, I must admit. (But) I had no interest in joining the company as a caretaker because the only way to be successful in this kind of family business is to create consistent but measurable growth. It can’t be a trophy asset and survive through the generations. We had the savoir faire but not the faire savoir – we could make wine but weren’t so good at letting people know about it. We found that part slightly embarrassing,” says the CEO, who’s also known as HRH Prince Robert of Luxembourg.

Indeed, since becoming president of the fourth-generation business founded in Pessac, France, in 1935 by his great-grandfather, who was an American Wall Street banker, Marie has been true to his word in bringing change. It’s a move made bolder due to Domaine Clarence Dillon being owner of the world’s most prestigious estates, among them the 1855 Premier Grand Cru Classé, Château La Mission Haut-Brion and, most famously, Château Haut-Brion, arguably the world’s first luxury wine brand. In 1521 it became the first Bordeaux wine to be named after its terroir, rather than its owner, and only some 500 cases of Château Haut-Brion are made each year for the global market. They are snapped up faster than you can say the word ‘claret’.