When art meets wine, champagne loves it
(Post based on a conversation held at the Payne Whitney Mansion in New York City on October 26th, 2022 during a fund-raiser dinner presented by the American Friends of La Cité du Vin).
In 1973, Château Mouton Rothschild paid tribute to Pablo Picasso, who passed away on April 8th of that year, by decorating the Premier Cru Classé with an Atelier Mourlot printed label reproduction of the 1959 master’s painting, Bacchanale. A century before, in 1874, Louise Pommery created the first brut champagne and became famous for patronizing art and artists.
To celebrate the symbiotic relationship between art and wine, which was highlighted in the 2022 Cité du Vin exhibition ‘Picasso, the Effervescence of Shapes,’ the American Friends of the Cité du Vin invited Maïlys Vranken, President of Vranken Pommery America, and Éric Mourlot for an exclusive conversation. “There are serious dinners in New York,” said the co-host of the evening, France’s Cultural counselor in the United States and director of Villa Albertine Gaëtan Bruel, “and there are joyous ones; this one is a mix of both.”
So, while tasting a vertical of Pommery Champagne, including a Blanc de Blancs Apanage and a Cuvée Louise 2005 paired with a dinner prepared by Tastings NYC-SoFlo and Alain Ducasse veteran chef Laetitia Rouabah, Maïlys Vranken and Eric Mourlot told the tales of their artisanal companies’ own relationships with art and artists.
Tag: Jean-Christian Agid
The New Audience of the Paris Opera
The show is mesmerizing. Once a year, the backdoors of the Palais Garnier stage are opened onto the Foyer de la Danse, a large golden room, framed by columns and presided over by a magnificent chandelier that personifies the spirit of this theater, inaugurated January 5, 1875. The Foyer was then the setting for discreet rendezvous between opera patrons and dancers. It is still used as a daily rehearsal and warm-up room. Intimate and secretive, the space, though sumptuous, is concealed from the public eye. Except for one evening per year: the annual Dance Gala, an exclusive fundraising soirée presented by the Paris Opera and AROP (Association pour le Rayonnement de l’Opéra de Paris).
The Three Sins of Mayra González
WOMEN CAN HAVE IT ALL | SERIES | THE THREE SINS OF MAYRA GONZALEZ
A manager at Nissan Mexico once told Mayra González that she was very talented and would have a great career in the industry, but “you have three sins,” he added: “You are young; you are a woman; and you are Mexican.”
Fast forward more than 15 years: Mayra González was eventually promoted in 2016 at age 39 to the top job at the Japanese car company’s fourth largest business unit, thus inducted to the very exclusive club of female CEOs, a mere three years after Mary Barra became the first woman appointed CEO at General Motors.
Mamá: ¿Por qué trabajás?
WOMEN CAN HAVE IT ALL | SERIES | MAYRA GONZALEZ, CEO DE NISSAN MEXICO, RESPONDE A SU HIJA
(translated from English by WordFactor | as published by the Huffington Post Mexico)
En su revolucionario libro sobre las mujeres Elige Todo, Nathalie Loiseau, una de las diplomáticas de mayor jerarquía en Francia, y madre de cuatro niños, escribió: “Recuerdo la ironía con la que se decía que, de niña, yo quería tenerlo todo”.
Actualmente sirve en el gobierno del presidente francés Macron como Ministra de Asuntos Europeos, Loiseau agregó: “Pobre ingenua: ingenua por quererlo, ingenua por creer que era posible e ingenua por expresarlo. Sigo siendo ingenua y estoy orgullosa de ello. Tenerlo todo; vivir la vida plenamente; no rendirse antes de empezar: Quisiera que esto fuera posible para todas las mujeres”.
‘Ingenua’? La directora general de Nissan México, Mayra González, también es una de las mujeres que quiere tener todo.