Cloudy Bay
Cloudy Bay
(Image credit: Cloudy Bay)

Jean-Guillaume Prats, who has just announced his departure as managing director of Cos d'Estournel, will be taking up a new post with LVMH-owned Estates & Wines – makers of Cloudy Bay, Cape Mentelle and other prestigious wines.

From Cos to Cloudy Bay (above): Prats takes up new post at LVMH

Christophe Navarre of Moët Hennessy Wines & Spirits announced Prats’ appointment as CEO of Estates & Wines internally this week.

Effective from February 2013, Prats will be based in Paris, and will be a board member of the LVMH Comité Opérationnel. Since 2011, Prats has been chairman of the board of Domaines Reybier and Château Cos d’Estournel.

‘I made the choice to leave Cos d’Estournel after I have had the privilege of running the estate for 14 years,’ Prats told Decanter.com via email. ‘And [I] join the LVMH group with great enthusiasm.’

He will take over from Estates & Wines president and CEO Xavier Ybargüengoitia, who is due to retire at the end of May 2013; for the first four months they will work together to ensure a smooth transition.

Estates & Wines portfolio includes Cloudy Bay, Cape Mentelle, Terrazas de los Andes, Cheval des Andes, Newton Vineyard, Numanthia and Chandon.

Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux

Explore More
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.

Roederer awards 2016: International Feature Writer of the Year