A VINTAGE ALLIANCE

THREE YEARS AGO, Jean-Charles Cazes was hosting a dinner for Marco Polo Club members in Hong Kong. As chief executive of Château Lynch-Bages, it’s something he does frequently, here or in Médoc itself. His neighbour took him aside and told him about the time, in the late 1980s, when he flew First Class on Cathay Pacific to London for a job interview. He and his wife tried a glass of Lynch-Bages – the 1982 vintage. And as soon as the interview was over, he headed to Berry Brothers & Rudd and bought 200 bottles.

Cazes was delighted to hear it: not least because the company’s own cellars had run out. So he arranged a swap: some of the ’82 for a stellar selection of different vintages. Everyone was happy.

That’s a fair summary of the relationship between Lynch-Bages and Cathay Pacific, too. It began in 1989, when a friend told JeanCharles’ father, Jean-Michel, that a customer in Hong Kong was looking for a reliable supply of outstanding Bordeaux vintages.

The 30-year relationship was celebrated in a special dinner in Hong Kong earlier this year. On the menu: that precious ’82.

There were more fine vintages opened in July, when select Marco Polo Club guests flew to Toulouse to take delivery of a new Airbus A350-900 (see p64). There was a new partnership to celebrate too, between the airline and Château Montrose – the latest vintage to tempt First flyers. The guests dined at Château Montrose’s extraordinary refurbished home – a true cathedral of fine wine, and 100 per cent organic.