Bruno Prats to launch final project at Vinexpo 2011

The former owner of Château Cos d’Estournel, Bruno Prats, is to launch his final wine project at Vinexpo in Bordeaux this June.

Speaking in London last night at a dinner hosted by Hirohisa Imai, owner of Japanese winery Sadoya in Yamanashi, Prats told the drinks business his days of expansion and investment abroad were coming to an end:

“I’m not looking to invest in Japan – my final project is an old vine Monastrell from Alicante. I’ve named it ‘Alfinal’, meaning ‘the end’ in Spanish, because this will be my last project”, Prats said.

“2009 is the first vintage, which I’ll be launching at Vinexpo this year”, he added.

After selling Saint-Estèphe second growth Château Cos d’Estournel in 1998 to the Bernard Taillan group and four Argentine businessmen, Prats has ventured into the New World, investing in several projects, including Viña Aquitania in Chile – a joint venture with Paul Pontallier, director of Château Margaux, and more recently Anwilka in South Africa with Hubert de Boüard of Château Angélus.

Prats also oversees Chryseia, a non-fortified Douro wine in the Bordeaux style with the Symington family.

A long-term friend of Imai, whose grandfather founded the Sadoya winery in 1917, Prats believes there is a real opportunity for Japanese wine to sell well in the UK and France:

“There’s a big market for Japanese wines in Japanese restaurants in the UK and France. I don’t think they’ll take off in French restaurants just yet, but local food always goes best with local wine”, he said.

Lucy Shaw 20.01.2011