Berland leaves Mouton

Hervé Berland, managing director of Château Mouton Rothschild, has announced his retirement after 30 years at the chateau.

He will be leaving after the 2011 En Primeur tastings which begin on 2 April.

Berland, 62, has been with the Rothschilds for more than 30 years. After studying in Paris and Toulouse, he joined the Baron Philippe de Rothschild SA in 1977, at first as export manager for Europe and becoming deputy commercial director in 1988.

He joined the board of Baron Philippe de Rothschild in 2006 as co-managing director in charge of sales and communication, working alongside Mouton estate director Philippe Dhalluin and technical director Eric Tourbier.

Together these three run Mouton Rothschild and Baroness Philippine de Rothschild’s two other Pauillac estates, Château d’Armailhac and Château Clerc Milon.

Berland also has an advisory role for Opus One in California – jointly owned by DBPR and Constellation – and runs the chateau side of BPDR operations, with its 600 employees worldwide, and estates in California, Chile and the Languedoc, besides those in Bordeaux.

Berland recently told Decanter.com, ‘It is a privilege to work for these estates. Not only because of their beauty and their heritage, but because of what they bring out in all of us who work with them.’

He will be replaced by Hervé Gouin, currently marketing director of Rothschild France Distribution, who joins Mouton as commercial director.

Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux, and Adam Lechmere