Primum Familiae Vini Bordeaux, February 2026
The under-seat bag for my forthcoming trip sat on the bed, already bursting at the seams. Two items competed for the last remaining iota of space.
The first was an umbrella. Potentially useful, but given that I would be indoors for the vast majority of my time at Wine Paris, in the Expo Porte de Versailles, arguably a frivolous addition to my luggage.
The second was a smart jacket, essential if I were invited to a formal dinner or sophisticated soirée. Not impossible at Wine Paris.
And then it flashed into my mind, like a lightning bolt. I already had an invitation, to an evening with Prince Robert of Luxembourg, Baron Philippe de Rothschild and other members of the Primum Familiae Vini, in the setting of the Grand Palais (one corner of which is pictured below – next time I must pack my wide-angle lens), an ostentatious palace built for the 1990 Exposition Universelle.
And so the decision was made for me. The seams of my diminutive rucksack groaned as the jacket was crammed in, while the umbrella was put aside, to serve at some other time. I swung the bag over my shoulder, and made tracks for the airport, Wine Paris, and the Primum Familiae Vini.
Primum Familiae Vini
Primum Familiae Vini – from the Latin for First Families of Wine – is an exclusive association in the world of wine. Founded in the early 1990s by two pioneering figures in wine, Miguel A. Torres of Familia Torres and Robert Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin, it was created as a response to the increasing consolidation of the global wine industry and a desire to preserve the values of independent, family-owned estates.
