Owner & Ambassador of La Caravelle Champagnes / Wines and Founder & President of Bouquet Ventures

To succeed in the wine industry, you definitely need to have an affinity for people, it's a highly relationship-based industry. It’s also important to be detail-oriented, to possess digital skills, know how to navigate softwares and social media and lastly, be a kind person. When I hire people, I look for reliable individuals whom I can trust in order to delegate.

I find inspiration in many different places: nature, art, colors. When I see something that catches my eye, I’ll stop everything to look at it. My family and my kids (Christophe, Nicolas and Patrick) are also a huge source of inspiration.

I read a lot to stay up to date with what’s happening: The New York Times’ food and wine section, The Wine Spectator, Wine & Spirits Magazine, The World of Fine Wine, the major food magazines like Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Saveur… Punch.com is a very-well done website and I love listening to Levi Dalton’s podcast “I’ll Drink to That! Talking with Levi Dalton”: you learn so many things listening to it that you get a totally different appreciation of a wine after hearing about it.

I consider myself in the school of life every minute of every day. My first instinct is always to figure out what I can learn out of anything – not in a scholarly manner, but by thinking outside of the box, looking for principles and universal laws that could apply anywhere. I hang out a lot of sommeliers, winemakers. I love to pick their brains, tastings are very important to stay educated.