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.
Do Chi Nam came to the estate in 2011 following 19 years at Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande.
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.
Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux
