Journal de bord

After he graduated from the Sup de Co Bordeaux in 1975, Benoît at first chose to answer the call of the sea rather than follow the family wine-growing tradition : the two areas of activity he fancied in those days were marketing and foreign trade.

During the two years he spent doing his military service as an officer in the Navy, he had the opportunity of sailing round the world. Afterwards, the call for adventure prompted him to integrate a branch of the Lyonnaise des Eaux dedicated to the treatment of wastes. After a few months, he was sent to the other end of the globe to take over the running of a branch at Punto Fijo in Venezuela where he supervised the installation of a draining system.

Valerie Bataille is a Parisian by birth and at heart although she has her roots in Lille. After studies at Sainte-Marie-de-Neuilly and then at the Lycée Pasteur, she obtains her DEUG in Law from the University of Nanterre. She next obtains a degree in Tech de Co at Paris XIII. Valérie is urged by her passion for music to join a record producing firm.

In 1982, the two meet : it is love at first sight and a decisive moment in their lives. As soon as they are married, they fly to Dubaï where Benoît heads a local branch of the SITA. Two years of an exciting and adventurous life in Dubaï only accentuated their taste for independence.

There, those two years of a thrilling and adventurous life could but strengthen Valérie’s and Benoît’s taste for independence.

In August 1984, the couple decide to return to France as Valérie is expecting their first baby-girl, Charlotte.
Benoît takes advantage of this period to ponder over his future and undergo training in oenology at the Faculty of Bordeaux.

This is a significant step that leads Valérie and Benoît to create their own wine business at 41, rue Borie in Bordeaux, on the family property where Patrice Calvet used to practise the same profession.

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“The fact that we have been working together since that time “ says Valérie and Benoît “ naturally places our business right among our life projects so that the milestones that mark our careers are deeply entrenched into our private lives.”