Château Margaux: André Mentzelopoulos
By 1974 Château Margaux was up for sale, and there was an offer on the table. It came from Corporate America, specifically from the National Distillers Company.
As I have already described on the first page of this profile, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing (pictured), the recently elected president of France, had no intention of seeing Château Margaux sold to a foreign buyer. The offer, which was for 82 million francs, was vetoed. Then a second offer came in from a more suitable (i.e. French) buyer, one Marcel Dassault (1892 – 1986). A survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp, Dassault was a hugely successful aviation engineer and industrialist. In 1975 he tabled an offer of 60 million francs and before long it seemed the deal was done, but for reasons unknown he withdrew from the process a few weeks later, taking his offer with him. His decision left the way clear for a third offer, although it took another two years for this to materialise.
It was in 1977 that André Mentzelopoulos (1915 – 1980) made the Ginestet family an offer of 72 million francs, one which they quickly accepted.
