His Father’s Son: Grand Mayne 1955-2011
BY NEAL MARTIN |
The Arches is packed, the air heavy with Cohiba cigars and red wine. The Good Bishop Gill holds court at the bar and makes sure the vino flows at a rate commensurate with a Friday night. The banter ricochets from one to another amongst the crowd, including a pair of bright and bushy-tailed Saint-Émilion vignerons, Juliette Bécot and Jean-Antoine Nony. I can’t recall what we talked about over the din, most likely something utterly inane, though I do remember the novelty, shooting the breeze with winemakers younger than my tender years. They were like bubbly teenagers, chatty and funny. Let loose in London, they were exploiting the city’s nightlife and unsurprisingly, when I visited the stands the following morning of Beau-Séjour Bécot and Grand Mayne at a consumer event in Marylebone, I found them empty. A couple of perplexed early birds fluttered around, wondering whether they should phone the authorities, let them know a couple of Bordeaux winemakers had gone AWOL. Before any search party was sent out, they materialized looking a bit weary and bleary-eyed, though it wasn’t long before they were enthusiastically pouring their wines for thirsty Bordeaux-lovers.
How time flies. That was almost 20 years ago. I watched Bécot and Nony grow into adults, slip into prominent roles at their respective estates, each with their own families, whilst thankfully retaining all their joie-de-vivre. With respect to Jean-Antoine Nony, at that time I am sure he foresaw a future where he would gradually take the reins from his father at Grand Mayne, working side-by-side for many years until Nony père took his well-earned retirement.
But fate had other plans. Jean-Antoine Nony had to step into a leadership role sooner than he could have foreseen or wanted. Life never works out the way you think it will.
The facade of Grand Mayne made out of unmistakable local sandstone.
History
The etymology is straightforward. “Mayne” derives from ‘Maine’ or ‘manor’ in old French dialect. The original 16th century manor house belonged to the Libourne-based Laveau family, who made their fortune from overseas trade and land ownership. When Jean Laveau died in 1836, he was Saint-Émilion’s largest owner, presiding over 288-hectares of vineyard that included both the Mayne and Soutard estates. Despite overseeing such enormous acreage, Laveau was motivated by quality that was reflected in his wines’ prices. Mayne comprised 140-hectares of which 30-hectares were under vine. Though his holdings were dispersed amongst family heirs, Mayne was kept intact. Subsequently the cru was renamed Grand Mayne, even if, contrary to its name, parcels were subsequently cleaved away down to 21 hectares, the heart some 17 hectares of Grand Cru Classé.
The grinning boy in the bow tie is Jean-Pierre Nony, his father, Jean Nony, is in the dark suit to his left. The others are members of the team at Grand Mayne, smartly dressed in their suits. Photo courtesy of the Nony family.
Jean-Antoine’s grandfather, Jean Nony, was born in 1895 in Corrèze, the same region of France home to a veritable wellspring of entrepreneurs, including the Moueix family. As part of the migration to Bordeaux, Nony built up a successful merchant business in the Chartron district of the city.
“My grandfather was a merchant like the Moueixs,” Nony explains. “He bottled other estates’ wines such as Montrose, including a Nony bottling of the 1947 Cheval Blanc. His major markets were the north of France and Benelux countries. He was one of the largest distributors of l’Église-Clinet.” According to the Féret guide published at the time, Jean Nony also produced two other labels, one called Beau-Mazerat that was absorbed into Grand Mayne in 1928 and the other, Château Cassevert. “In 1934 my grandfather bought Grand Mayne from Noël Berbudeau, whose estate had suffered after the 1929 crisis. He strove to improve the quality of the wine and sold exclusively through his company, Négoce Jean Nony until the 1982 vintage. My father continued to use the Beau-Mazerat and Cassevert labels [the latter not a second wine – more like a deluxe cuvée] though he stopped using them in 1986 to create our second label Les Plantes du Mayne, from 1986 to 2007, that became Filia de Grand Mayne since 2008.” Cassevert, located in the commune of St. Christophe des Bardes, is now part of Château Tour Saint Christophe.
Grand Mayne had an eminent admirer on the Left Bank. “In the sixties or early seventies, Baron Philippe de Rothschild was at a restaurant in Belgium. He found the 1955 Grand Mayne so good that he exchanged it for two cases of 1955 Mouton-Rothschild. But I have never seen the bottles.”
