First growth Chateau Margaux has a new technical director following the departure of Thomas Do Chi Nam, the estate has confirmed.

Managing director Paul Pontallier confirmed to Decanter.com that Do Chi Nam left the estate in spring 2014, and was not immediately replaced, as Pontallier himself is an oenologist and winemaker.

Margaux subsequently appointed Sebastien Vergne to replace him. ‘We waited to find the right replacement,’ Pontallier said during the Bordeaux 2014 en primeur tastings last week. ‘We appointed Sebastien Vergne in the summer of last year. The 2015 season will be his first full vintage.’

Vergne is a graduate from the Ecole Nationalse Superieure d’Agronomie de Montpellier, as is Pontallier. Vergne began his career working in research for water resources and purificatation for Nestle, before retraining as an oenologist.

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Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux

Jane Anson
Jane Anson

Jane Anson was Decanter’s Bordeaux correspondent until 2021 and has lived in the region since 2003. She writes a monthly wine column for Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, and is the author of Bordeaux Legends: The 1855 First Growth Wines (also published in French as Elixirs). In addition, she has contributed to the Michelin guide to the Wine Regions of France and was the Bordeaux and Southwest France author of The Wine Opus and 1000 Great Wines That Won’t Cost a Fortune. An accredited wine teacher at the Bordeaux École du Vin, Anson holds a masters in publishing from University College London, and a tasting diploma from the Bordeaux faculty of oenology.

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