Jean-Guillaume Prats grew up as a member of Bordeaux’s wine aristocracy, at second-growth Château Cos-d’Estournel, the St.-Estèphe estate owned by his family until 1998. But he left a successful career there to seek adventure—and found it in Shangri-La.
Prats, 45, left Bordeaux in 2012, after 18 vintages at Cos, to become CEO of Estates and Wines, Moët-Hennessy's collection of premier wine properties, including Numanthia in Spain, Cloudy Bay in New Zealand and Newton in California. I caught up with Prats over lunch in New York in January as he was planning a trip to a new venture in southwestern China—his 12th visit since joining the company.
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