37°C - body temperature (98.6° F) and we're all looking for a little fraîcheur.

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One of them is literally taller than most buildings in Bordeaux!

I've only lived in Bordeaux for a few years, but I recall very clearly our first trip here in the late 1990's. I remember our first hotel room near the Cour de l'Intendance, how nice people were in general (coming from Paris, not that surprising). I remember a man smiling at me on the street and saying "Vous allez bien vite, Monsieur".  I remember too, how horrible it was to drive in Bordeaux during the tram construction, but now that that's over for the moment, it's a great asset. We don't own or need a car here. I also recall being here on September 11, 2001 and the way things unravelled in that context.

But before that first trip to Pessac to meet Jean-Bernard Delmas and his son Jean-Philippe who is now in charge, I met the then President Joan Dillon, Duchesse de Mouchy. (Her husband Philippe, an exceptional man,  recently passed away and I wrote a short note about him.) Much is made of "social networking" these days, but I met Joan on a Compuserve Forum! We then exchanged a few emails and eventually set up an appointment at the offices of Domaine Clarence Dillon. Founded on June 1, 1935. The company was named after the American financier Clarence Dillon, Joan's grandfather, who purchased Château Haut-Brion in 1935. La Duchesse is an amazing person who has faced numerous serious challenges in life and it has been one of my greatest pleasures to work with her these many years.Unlike the image you might get in your mind of someone like Joan, in those early days she literally installed and re-installed Windows 95 herself, many, many times! (As did we all, W95 was a crock.)

Joan's son, HRH Prince Robert of Luxemburg has now taken over and he has continued the family tradition of generosity and kindness. I've also enjoyed working many years with Robert who is in no way distant and on the contrary treats us as honored guests and friends, always showing that Dillon kindness and generosity.

Of course there's no way to mention real people of Bordeaux without getting to Jean-Bernard and Jean-Philippe Delmas. More about thes two important Bordeaux people is found on Wikipedia. The elder, J-B was literally born at Château Haut-Brion where his fother had worked before him. He grew up there as well to become of the most respected wine makers in the world. After being introduced to us in Pessac in his office, he made a wide gesture to include the entire property and said "Vous êtes chez vous." Over the years, both of the Delmas, more reserved than the American ownership and management, have still been a huge thrill to associate with.

Twice I was seated next to Jean-Bernard when he would comment on the spectacular wines we were tasting at lunches or dinners. Some of these were huge events and some were with only a few people. They were always passionately interesting and stimulating. We've had the pleasure of seeing J-B from time to time at Bordeaux events.

A long time ago I emailed Jean-Philippe to ask him how long to decant 2 bottles of Château Haut-Brion White they had sent to us for a dinner with journalists. He smiled (electronically) when he said "you don't decant white wine". Ok, I was younger then. You could say we've watched Jean-Philippe "grow up". He's certainly deservedly become a bright light in Bordeaux.

Our last meeting in Pessac was a more somber occasion, but the team there are still friends as well as close collaborators in our ongoing projects: Jean-Philippe Delmas, Alain Puginier and Bertrand Fondraz are some real people of Bordeaux I will not forget, even if the day comes when we are not working for them.

Several years ago we were contacted by Corinne Mentzelopoulos about fixing some things for their site, which was built by one of those agencies that had 12 cities on their business card, but then went under without warning. The site was very much in advance in the technology it used, but had some failings they wanted to fix, so we met several times to address the issues.

Again, I use the word privilege to describe working with Corinne and Paul Pontalier. Over long term projects, which this one turned out to be, you end up get closer to knowing the humans behind the wine and the property. It's a delight to talk about all kinds of things with these folks, and they're a lot more relaxed than when you see them at major events like primeurs tastings.The first meeting began with a tasting with Paul. It was like something out of a movie. Although we're not professionals in that aspect of the wine business, people Like Paul Pontalier or Jean-Bernard Delmas, who tasted with us at Haut-Brion on our first visit there in the late 90's, are patient and they observe how you look at and treat the wine. There's no need to pretend to know anything more about it. It's always wonderful to taste wine with the person responsible for making it, whether that's a small garage outfit or a Bordeaux First Growth. They're always happy, and I assume proud to show you, as a guest, how great the wine is in its class. Over the course of our work at Margaux, we got a deeper insight into the way Corinne and Paul work. They were generous in every way, but cautious about revealing the Château to the general public.

I told Paul a story that happened to me years back, where a wine maker had made some Petit Verdot, just because it's so hard to do. We tasted it at a dinner in Fresno, and it was... "rough". I couldn't presume to speak to Paul about wine, so I used "rough", the first descriptive word to come to my mind. We somehow repeated this word "rough", placed in the middle of a French sentence (c'était un peu rough...)  to each other over a few times over the next few months and it became a kind of joke between us.

While we were looking for a subcontractor to deal with the .NET aspects of that site, we met several potential partners in Paris. Their sales people had cold-called Château Margaux several times a year, trying to work with them, not imagining that it's extremely rare that a Bordeaux 1st growth will pay attention to a cold call. Not only have they been around for centuries, but a friend in the business here in town joked recently that it takes them about 25-50 years to make up their minds about some decisions. The hardest part of projects like this is explaining the idea that visitors like to explore a site, not be driven on a guided tour, which is what happens with many Flash sites. In the end, Château Margaux decided to follow our final bit of advice and convert the Flash site to HTML. No more menu bar that floats up, if and only if you guess you have to mouse over a word. I see a new feature now, one that allows you to trace the bottle to determine authenticity.

I've always been told that Bordeaux is a very closed and jealously guarded world, so each time we are invited into the back rooms, graciously served a meal or a glass of amazing wine and in some cases told "vous êtes chez vous", becoming part of the "family", I treasure the experience and realize how lucky I've been to meet so many interesting people in Bordeaux, just as I had in Los Angeles in what seems like a century ago.

"The spider and the fly, Don't know the reason why, But they each have a role to play..." (from 'Mortal Coil')

After having written about Philippe de Mouchy, I wondered if I couldn't say a few nice things about those who have influenced me in this business who are still alive. We are so lucky to have worked with such great people in that "golden age". Two people with whom I am very grateful to have had the chance to work are Bertrand Bouteiller and Bernard de Laage of Château Palmer. In early meetings with Bertrand, I was impressed by several qualities, but two main ones come to mind: humility and respect. Bertrand always listened to what you said and while he was not afraid to express his opinions and ideas, he wasn't someone who had to be right all the time. Being one of the owners of Palmer, he was able to generously allow us to have amazing working lunches at the Château most times we were there, with then winemaker Philippe Delfaut (now at Kirwan). To tell the whole truth, every person we met at Palmer at that time treated us as friends or guests, rather than consultants. Hats off to all of them, we had a lot of fun hearing about their part in the making of Palmer. Martine, Michel, Jacques, Céline, Chantale, Nicolas, Damien and others whose names escape me at this writing were without exception kind, patient and generous with their time. We were lucky enough to participate in many events with the entire Palmer team at the time.

We learned a lot about wine and Bordeaux over a glass of Champagne during the little apéritif in the salon, before going into the dining room. At those "working lunches", we would usually have three wines in decanters and we everone around the table had to try to guess what we were drinking. The food was basic, but always delicious and served with much geniality. What made these moments memorable though, was the company. At the table between work sessions, enjoying food, wine and conversation with Bertrand, Bernard, Philippe, and Claire, about wine but also many other things made that time (2001 to about 2004) one of the most stimulating and pleasant of my career. Anecdote: once, a young woman from the computer maintenance subcontractor joined us. When Bertrand held the carafe of wine over her glass, she said "No thank you, I only drink white". This same person had said earlier that there was no reason to update the virus definitions more than once a month.

For the most part, our working time was spent in meetings with Bernard and Claire, brainstorming, talking strategy, but also often digressing into all kinds of things. I recall the first time I met Bernard, in Paris. I somehow had the nerve to tell him, "We're the people you need!" and he somehow believed me. Bernard is an amazing guy in many ways, but in particular, his unlimited energy and his openness to new ideas come to mind. Also unforgettable, the day we went down for a meeting to Palmer, September 12th, 2001. The simple expression of sympathy we received from Bernard and the rest of the team was moving and sincere.

Since we moved to Bordeaux, we're privileged to continue to have the chance to break bread or dink a glass with our friends.