Heart's Delight Wine Tasting & Aution

Paul Pontallier, Château Margaux

The history of Château Margaux can be traced back to the 12th century, when it was known as “La Mothe de Margaux.”  Vineyards were planted on the estate in the mid 1500’s and in 1787 it achieved an envious place at the top of Thomas Jefferson's hierarchy of chateaux. In 1855, Château Margaux was one of only four wines from the Medoc ranked as a “First Great Growth.” Over the centuries, the property changed ownership several times. In 1810, Marquis de la Colonilla acquired the property and razed the old Gothic manor-house, building in its place the chateau which still stands today.  Often called the Versailles of the Medoc, Château Margaux is certainly one of the loveliest and most elegant of all the chateaux in Bordeaux.  In 1977 the property was purchased by Andre and Laura Mentzelopoulos, who made profound improvements in the vineyards and cellars of Château Margaux. His daughter, Corinne, is now the sole owner of Château Margaux.  She and Paul Pontallier, the general manager since 1983, are responsible for significant improvements over the last 25 years at Château Margaux. The entire estate covers 650 acres; 200 acres are planted with red varietals in a ratio of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot, 2 to 3% Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.  The wine of Château Margaux is famous for its unforgettable aroma of violets and perfume.  It is the most feminine and most charming of the First Growths.  It is rich, sensuous and seductive on the palate; full of strength and grace. Its tannins are finer, lending the wine a certain transparency and clarity that is rare in Bordeaux. 

Bill Plante

Bill Plante has been a CBS News White House correspondent since January 1993, having been named to the position after he covered the 1992 presidential campaign of Bill Clinton.

Before that, Plante was CBS News’ state department correspondent (1989-92). He served as anchor of the CBS Sunday Night News (June 1988-August 1995). Plante first worked the White House beat during the Ronald Reagan presidency (1981-89). He was part of the CBS News team which received a 1986 Emmy Award for coverage of the Reagan-Gorbachev summit at Reykjavik, Iceland. Plante was a floor reporter at the 1988 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. He also covered Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign and was part of the CBS News team that won an Emmy Award for its coverage. Plante has been based in the CBS News Washington bureau since December 1976. Before his first White House assignment, he covered general and off-year elections, including the national political conventions.

His reporting has not been restricted to politics, however. Plante covered the fall of Skylab and Pope John Paul II’s visit to the United States, both in 1979. Earlier that year, following the Shah’s departure from Iran, he reported on the revolution in that country and was one of two American journalists to cover a revolutionary trial in Teheran.Plante joined CBS News in June 1964 as a New York-based reporter/assignment editor. He served four tours of duty in Vietnam. Plante also covered the civil rights movement in Mississippi and Alabama, including Dr. Martin Luther King’s historic march from Selma to Montgomery.

Plante has received many major broadcast journalism awards. In addition to Emmy Awards for his coverage of the death of Princess Diana, the Reagan-Gorbachev summit and Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign, he won an Emmy for his investigative report on the U.S.-Soviet wheat deal broadcast on the “CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite” (1972). Plante’s foreign reporting was recognized with a 1971 Overseas Press Club Award for his reports on the India-Pakistan War, and second in 1975 for Best Radio Spot News Reporting for his coverage of the fall of the South Vietnam and Cambodian governments and evacuation of American personnel.

Jamie Ritchie

Jamie Ritchie joined Sotheby’s in London in 1990, where he served as one of the Wine Department’s top experts. Mr. Ritchie has been responsible for setting-up and running Sotheby’s Wine sales in Germany (1993), New York (1994), Zurich (1994), and Los Angeles (1996). In July 1995, Mr. Ritchie moved to New York and was appointed Head of the U.S. Wine Department.

Following the acquisition of Leslie Hindman Auctioneers, in June 1997, Ritchie became Managing Director of Sotheby’s Chicago and was instrumental in Sotheby’s acquisition of Davis & Co. Wine Auctioneers in Chicago in November 1998.

In 1999 Ritchie became Senior Vice President of Sotheby’s Internet Division, launching the Sothebys.com Associate Programme for online auctions at Sothebys.com. In 2001, Mr. Ritchie re-joined the Wine Department with responsibility for developing Sotheby’s U.S. wine business.

Throughout his years with Sotheby’s, Mr. Ritchie’s expertise and knowledge of wine played an integral role in the success of many extraordinary sales, including 75,000 bottles of wine from the cellar of Schloss St. Emmeram from The Princely Collections of von Thurn and Taxis in Regensburg, Bavaria in 1993, Ritchie also acted as an auctioneer for the record-setting wine auction Wine from the Collection of Andrew Lloyd Webber in London in 1997, which totaled over six million dollars, and for The Millennium Wine Cellar in New York in 1999, which was the world’s highest grossing wine auction, totaling $14.4 million. Mr. Ritchie continues to act as auctioneer for Sotheby’s wine auctions, as well as leading tastings and charity auctions around the United States.