Alexis Lichine

Alexis Lichine (* 1913 in Moscow ; † June 1, 1989 near Bordeaux ) was an American wine merchant and non-fiction author. He managed the traditional wineries Château Prieuré-Lichine and Château Lascombes in the Médoc wine-growing region . Lichine was instrumental in making French wines popular in the United States .

Life

Alexis Lichine was the son of a wealthy businessman. He grew up in New York and Paris , where he graduated from school. After a few years he returned to New York and worked in a wine business after prohibition was lifted. Here he met Frank Schoonmaker , an author of specialist wine books. They became partners and operated together to import wine from France.

In 1951 he bought the run-down winery "Château Prieuré-Cantenac", which he rebuilt under the new name of Château Prieuré-Lichine . Four years later, together with David Rockefeller and Paul Manheim , he managed to acquire the well-known Château Lascombes .

In 1955 Lichine founded the company "Alexis Lichine & Company" in France, which he sold to the British brewery group Brass-Charrington in 1966. In the following years he wrote several specialist books, which were particularly popular in the USA. In 1976 he took part in the Paris Wine Jury .

Alexis Lichine died in 1989 at his Château Prieuré-Lichine winery after several months of illness of cancer. He left behind his son Sascha, who has been running his father's business ever since.

Publications

• Wines of France , 1951
• Guide to Wines and Vineyards of France , 1967
• Encyclopaedia of Wines and Spirits , 1967
• Vins er Vignobles de France , 1979

Web links

• Obituary in the New York Times (English)

literature

• Jancis Robinson (Ed.): The Oxford Wine Lexicon . Hallwag, Gräfe and Unzer, Munich 2006, ISBN 978-3-8338-0691-9 .