Top 3 French Wine Stars Abroad

Traveling far and wide in search of the perfect terroir, packing grape varieties into their suitcases to test them on different soil… That’s exactly what a few adventurous winemakers have done. Do French winemakers export themselves as successfully as their wine?

Stéphane Asseo, the globetrotting winemaker

Stéphane Asseo is an adventurer. He spent many years traveling before becoming estate manager at Domaine de Courteillac in Bordeaux. A few years later, he sold everything to take on a new challenge: becoming the owner of an exceptional vineyard with the ambition of producing great wines. After several months of searching, he finally settled on Paso Robles, located between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Since this small valley met all his criteria, he planted Syrah and Cabernet on the grounds of the Aventure Winery, bringing together grape varieties from the Rhône and Bordeaux. Today, 20 years after he started, Stéphane’s wines are stars on the American continent.

The Bourgeois Family: Masters of Sauvignon Blanc

It took 10 years of research to lead Jean-Marie Bourgeois to a terroir in New Zealand. Ten years spent tasting wines to find a soil suitable for his Sancerre grape varieties. Clos Henri, the New Zealand branch of Domaine Henri Bourgeois, is located in the Wairau Valley, in Marlborough. Why choose to make wine on the other side of the world? For the cool climate that is reflected in the wine, and for Sauvignon Blanc, the king of grape varieties in the land of the Kiwis. Sancerre vs. Marlborough—who wins?

Pierre Seillan, the cowboy from the Gers

“His feet are in California, but his heart is in the Southwest ”—that’s how journalist César Compadre describes Pierre Seillan. This native of Gascony left his region at age 50 to settle in the United States, in the Sonoma Valley, where he began making wine at Jess Jackson’s estate. Without losing his Southwestern accent, he has but one ambition: to create a wine better than Pétrus. Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon form the basis of his delicate cuvées, where California wine tends to stand out for its power. The fact that Pierre Seillan often speaks of terroir speaks to his closeness to the land. For him, you have to listen to it to get the best out of it. And it is surely thanks to this that his wines receive a shower of awards. La Muse, La Joie, Le Désir… vintages with promising names to which American critic Robert Parker has awarded the highly coveted score of 100/100. Wines that cost $600 a bottle, no less. Your next splurge?