Legendary Lichine : The Wine Encyclopedist Expands His French Domain

IT WAS ON a cold March afternoon that I paid a visit to my friend of many decades, Alexis Lichine, at his Bordeaux wine estate, Chateau Prieure-Lichine in the village of Cantenac, adjoining Margaux.

We walked over to the new wine shop, where visitors may purchase memorabilia of their visit to the chateau, including “Alexis Lichine’s Guide to the Wines and Vineyards of France” and the fifth, totally revised edition of “Alexis Lichine’s New Encyclopedia of Wines & Spirits,” both available in many languages. “Well,” Lichine said when I arrived, “What do you think?” He waved his arms with a sweeping gesture to accommodate the large reception hall, banked on three sides with bins of vintaged Prieure-Lichine wines. The floor-to-ceiling bins with concrete dividers were not mere “squares” for storage, however, but were of varying size and shape--oblong, square, tall, short--space divided with the precision of a Mondrian design. We passed through the wine-storage rooms, constructed with original oak beams that date from the 16th Century; through the room filled with French oak barrels holding aging wines; onward to yet another brand new hall where gleaming stainless-steel fermenters lined an impeccable avenue to new Swiss Sutter presses. The costs of this new facility had to be astronomical.

In the vineyard, Lichine leaned down to the low-trained vines. He ran his fingers along one of the shoots. “It’s so cold, the sap has not yet begun to rise. We now have 165 acres. There are five villages under the appellation ‘Margaux’: Laborde, Cantenac, Arsac, Soussons and Margaux--about 2,500 acres of vines within this place-name of Margaux. There are 22 chateaux in the appellation. Prieure, of course, is a Quatrieme Cru (Fourth Growth) by that Classification of 1855, but these same grapes and some of those I purchased--neighboring Chateau Margaux holdings--would be First Growth under their label.”

Lichine’s son Sacha had lined up a vertical tasting of Chateau Prieure-Lichine vintages: 1986, ‘85, ‘83, ’82 and ’70. “Next week,” Alexis Lichine said, “Professor Emile Peynaud, Jean Delmas from Haut-Brion and Patrick Leon, the enologist-wine maker of Mouton, will be here for the ‘assemblage.’ ” All the various barrels of the separate grape varieties, from individual vineyards all over the appellation belonging to Prieure-Lichine, would be tasted blind, the top varieties ultimately blended for the estate wine. “We might agree that vat No. 17 is great, No. 15 less good. Only the best of these ‘87s will go into Prieure. There was rain at harvest time in 1987. We’ll probably eliminate 50%.”

These distinguished Bordelais authoritarian palates long ago overrode their French clannishness, accepting Moscow-born Lichine with his American passport as wholly as a Bordeaux wine maker.

Our own tasting results? The 1985 Chateau Prieure-Lichine, with 40% Merlot, has an opulent bouquet, and I wrote “Wonderful wine!” The 1983 shows more finesse, great depth, chocolaty nose, with more Cabernet body--a very seductive, elegant wine. 1982 was the year of great sunshine, when everyone made great wines with so much grape-sugar that many wineries needed ice to cool the vats. It is a big, rich wine, still in the shade of the ’83. The 1970? It’s the prize of keeping a wine cellar.