There are some fascinating historical facts related to India about this wine. The Indian Elephant is on the label and the winery�s logo. The main door of the Chateau, a �Bulund Darwaza� imported from the Sultan of Zanzibar�s palace, and the unique pagoda- like roof of the Chateau, furthers the Asian connection. Louis Gaspard d�Estournel sold his first wines of Cos d�Estournel in India.

I HAD lunch with Jean-Guillaume Prats, the man who runs the super second growth �Cos d�Estournel� at the chateau in St. Estephe, Bordeaux, in March 2002. After a glass of Cristal champagne, we went to the lunch room where a Portuguese lady named Luisa had cooked a wonderful meal, and served it herself. The wines were a Mouton Rothschild 1993, and a Cos d�Estournel 1986. The Mouton had on its label a drawing of a nude girl of about 12, by the extraordinary artist Balthus.

Jean-Guillaume told me later, over a cognac, coffee and a Cohiba cigar, how this horrified the Americans. So, for the USA, Mouton put another, more acceptable label. Of course the original label has become a collector�s item! He escorted me around the fabulous chateau, which was managed by his father, the Bruno Prats, for almost 30 years, and which was owned by Domaine Prats. Jean-Guillaume has been the man in charge since 1998. He succeeded his legendary father at the age of 28!

In the year 2000, Cos d�Estournel was sold to a wealthy French businessman, who asked Jean-Guillaume to stay on as president and director general. He is now 33. His wife�s name is Stiphanie and their children are Jean-Quentin, who is 6, Baptiste is 4, Marine is 3 and Margot is 1. His father, Bruno Prat now spends his time sailing, taking care of his grandchildren, and producing wine in Chile and Portugal.

Jean-Guillaume was the Real Tennis French champion in 1994, 95, 96 and 1998. He was educated at a Jesuit school in Bordeaux and then graduated from the European Business School with a major in finance, and worked in London, before joining the chateau where he had grown up. His favourite restaurants are Tan Dinh in Paris, Terrete in Haro (Rioja), in Spain, Chez Luisa, the cook at Cos d�Estournel, and Taillevent in Paris.

His favourite travel destination is the peninsula of Cap Ferret just outside of Bordeaux. Jean-Guillaume Prats has been to India often. I remember a fabulous Cos d�Estournel vertical tasting in Delhi. The wines were paired with several courses at a sit-down. Robert Parker thinks Cos d�Estournel should be classified a first growth, i.e. on par with Latour, Lafite, Margaux etc. All of us at the dinner agreed with this assessment of the world�s most influential wine critic. Louis-Gaspard d�Estournel inherited 30 acres of vines in 1810, and then bought the whole hill. It was he who created the first great wines which bear his name to this day. It took him 30 years. He died at the age of 92 in 1853. The Ginestet family bought Cos d�Estournel in 1917.

Jean-Guillaume is Fernand Ginestet�s great-grandson. The famous Vermouth, Noilly Prat, also belonged to the family. There are some fascinating historical facts related to India about this wine. The Indian Elephant is on the label and the winery�s logo. The main door of the Chateau, a �Bulund Darwaza� imported from the Sultan of Zanzibar�s palace, and the unique pagoda like roof of the Chateau, furthers the Asian connection. Louis Gaspard d�Estournel sold his first wines of Cos d�Estournel in India. The office records of the brokers Tastet-Lawton, which are valid executed and authenticated deeds, certify this:

�1831 - Cos d�Estournel - Destination Calcutta - Very good!�
�1834 - Cos d�Estournel - Destination Calcutta - Perfect!�
�1837 - Cos d�Estournel - Destination Calcutta - Perfect!�

It so transpires that one consignment of the Cos d�Estournel shipped to India had to be returned for some reason and Louis Gaspard d�Estournel had observed that the wine which had travelled beyond the seas had improved during the course of the voyage as a result of the gentle swaying of the boat with the swell of the sea! He had the wine brought back to his cellars, endowed it with a label marked �R� which for the initiated meant �Returned from India� and he offered it to the great men of this world.

The great novelist Jules Verne wrote in 1859: �The wine was a 15-year-old Cos d�Estournel, which deserved respect. First of all, Edmond served it in large glasses which be quarter filled; then, giving his guests the lead, he raised his glass to eye level, looked deep into his ruby liquid, stated that his deep-coloured wine had body, nose, and exquisite character; he then lowered his glass, swirled it gently from right to left and then more quickly from left to right, thrust the bony protuberance with which Nature had endowed him into the glass and for several minutes took in the gentle emanations this intelligent swirling had produced. After a minute of silent ecstasy, he closed his eyes and absorbed all the pleasure, increased by the passing of the years, of this beneficial liquor. That is how to drink a Bordeaux.�

Jean-Guillaume is a highly educated sophisticated man, who is fluent and articulate. He is slim, dresses immaculately, and travels extensively. He says, �The issues that my generation face are not technical ones which my father�s generation had to contend with, but financial and management issues.

I want everyone to be young, to have new eyes and not be satisfied with what we do.� If the vintages they have produced, the 2000, 2001, and 2002, which I have tasted, are anything to go by, this �super second growth� will easily be made a first growth if there is ever a reclassification of the famous one done in 1855.