Alexis & Sacha Lichine, Two Generations of Aspiring to Excellence from One Century to the Next

The globalization of wine has important roots with Alexis Lichine who emigrated to The United States from Moscow and then from America to France during his youth. His cultivated experience led him to various capacities in fostering consumer awareness and enthusiasm about wine. During World War II, Mr. Lichine served with the US Army and took part in the August 1944 allied landings in southern France. Upon finishing his military service as a Major and Aide de Camp to General Eisenhower, Mr. Lichine helped to rebuild numerous vineyards and cellars throughout France that were destroyed and ransacked during the war. His efforts helped to empower the French wine establishment permitting it to focus on what would become a prosperous future during subsequent decades. For Mr. Lichine, the groundwork was laid to establishing his first commercial venture: Alexis Lichine Selections.

Through his company’s selection process, Mr. Lichine created the estate bottling system in Burgundy offering Domaines higher standards to package and promote their wine than were the negotiants of the day. Additionally, Mr. Lichine also established and owned Domaines Lichine Newman. His noted 1951 acquisition of Chateau Prieure Lichine, for himself, would remain in the family for nearly fifty years before being sold. Mr. Lichine also acquired Chateau Lascombes with a group of investors and sold it to Bass Charrington in 1970. In 1962 he made a provocative impact by publishing the Classification des Grand Crus Rouges de Bordeaux in a spirited effort to revise the outdated Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. An enduring legacy to Alexis Lichine is writing the Wines of France published in 1952 followed by Alexis Lichine’s Encyclopedia of Wines & Spirits in 1967 later to be renamed Alexis Lichine’s New Encyclopedia of Wines & Spirits after numerous printings up through 1988. Both these books became instrumental to demystifying wine for a generation of wine lovers. Given Mr. Lichine’s unmatched and celebrated leadership many referred to him as the Pope of Wine.

Following his father’s remarkable trajectory, Sacha, who was born in Bordeaux and educated in America, has created his own success. In addition to working at Prieure Lichine during the summers of his youth, at age 23, Sacha’s first enterprise was organizing luxury wine tours in France which helped facilitate the establishment of Sacha Lichine Estate Selections for wines from the Rhone. He also worked as a Sommelier at Anthony’s Pier 4 Restaurant and then with an importer/ distributor/ wholesaler both of which were in Boston. Sacha then went on to work for Southern Wine & Spirits in California and in 1987 he established a distributorship on Saint Lucia called Caribbean Chateau. During the same year, a defining moment in Sacha’s career came about when he started running Prieure Lichine at age 27. In 1990 Sacha started a negociant business, Borvin, which he still operates focusing on selecting the best wines from Bordeaux. Recognizing the importance of innovation in an increasingly varied wine industry around the world, Sacha developed a line of new world wines from France, Sacha Lichine International/ Vins Sans Frontiers which today consists of a range of blended wines from the Languedoc and varietals from other regions in France.

A pivotal moment for Sacha was his 2006 acquisition of Chateau d’Esclans in Provence. In keeping with his father’s uncanny sense of innovation, Sacha felt that Rose had strong developmental opportunities to become more serious from a production standpoint in addition to being served and consumed more broadly. The result to this foresight energized by an abiding passion for making and promoting great wine, has resulted in building a world class brand while providing a strong contribution to unprecedented growth within the Rose category. This has made for a remarkable chapter in Sacha’s dynamic career to date.