Sauternes

Today we departed from the usual Bordeaux tasting plan by spending the day in Sauternes. We began at first-growth Chateau Guiraud, where our private tour was an excellent introduction to the Sauternes-making process. In contrast with most Medoc tours, this one was much more informal and it was clear that the chateau wasn’t really set up for guests. This was A-OK with us as we were able to poke around all we wanted and have all of our questions answered.

We finished the tour with a six-vintage vertical tasting of the Chateau Guiraud Sauternes: 1996 (unrated), 1998 (89), 2000 (90), 2001 (96), 2002 (89), and 2003 (95)–what a way to start the day! The complexities and differences between each vintage were astounding. Guiraud uses exclusively the natural yeast on the berries which, when combined with the varying levels of sugar each year, makes for radically different fermentation durations each year. They also vary the proportion of semillion to sauvignon blanc depending on the quality of each varietal each season. Accordingly, the differences in style, taste, nose, and body between many of the vintages were tremendous. I was also amazed by how rich and dark Sauternes become as they age. The 1996, with the same varietal composition as the 2003, would not have been recognizable as the same wine.

After six glasses of wine and no breakfast, we really needed some lunch to sober up! We found a little restaurant near the town center and sat out on a terrace overlooking the vineyards. The food was wonderful and we took a nap in the car afterward. Refreshed and ready to go, we then made our way to the legendary Chateau d’Yquem, the only Bordeaux winery to receive the Premier Cru Superieur designation in the classification of 1855.

The Yquem tour was in French and was shared with three other small groups so I acted as translator for the rest of our motley crew. Unfortunately our guide really, really loved the sound of his voice and went on and and on, motivating us to zone out and discuss on our own.

Apparently Yquem uses exactly the same vinification process as Guiraud (and all the other first growths), so the question was raised, “What distinguishes Yquem to make it ‘Superieur?'” The answer was typically French: terroir. It was not just the quality of the terroir, though, which is shared by the other first growths. Yquem is the largest land owner in Sauternes by far and their parcels are spread throughout the region. This gives them significant soil variety, enabling them to choose the best grapes from different vineyards each year. So, if the year is hot and dry, they can favor grapes from vineyards that do better in hot, dry weather. If the year is cool and moist, they can favor grapes that thrive in such an environment.

The proof is in the pudding, or rather in the Sauternes. We tasted the Chateau d’Yquem Sauternes 2004 (97) and it was delicious. It was clearly very young but showed layer after layer of balanced complexity. Given the bottles of Yquem from the early 1800s lying around (and I thought 1996 was dark!), which are apparently still very drinkable, these wines are seriously built to last.

So, although the tour was much longer than it needed to be, the estate and the wine were beautiful. We then wound our way through Bordeaux to St. Emilion, where we would stay the night. Our B&B was a gorgeous chateau just outside of the city. It sat on a large property that included several windmills, one of which could be climbed for breathtaking views of the area. After some walking around the local vineyards, a refreshing dip in the chateau’s pool, and dinner in St. Emilion, we slept very, very well.

Margaux

Ron wasn’t feeling too well this morning so we skipped our first appointment at Chateau Palmer. We did manage to make our afternoon appointment at Chateau Margaux, though, and I am certainly glad that we did. The estate was beautiful and, again, our guide was very knowledgeable. This time we shared the visit with a group of four Germans and tasted the 2004 vintage of their first label (93) at the end. It was young and tight, but you could tell that there was a world of complexity waiting to come out over the next decades.

For dinner we met the John/Natalye clan and many of their friends in the architecture community at a restaurant in Saintes. Dinner was delicious and was followed by a tour of Charlotte’s (another Houston friend of ours through John and Natalye) new house in Saintes. To be accurate, it wasn’t a “new” house per se, rather the renovation of four adjoining houses into a single one. It was beautiful and we celebrated with cognac from 1964. We also had some Richard Hennessy cognac, Hennessy’s ultra premium brand, which was soft, smooth, and spicy. It was a wonderful way to wrap up our last night in/around Cognac.

Pauillac

It took us a little longer than anticipated to make our way into Bordeaux this morning, but that was OK since Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou (in St. Julien), where we had our first appointment, had decided to cancel all of its tastings this week. This left us with plenty of time to meander around Pauillac and have a leisurely lunch on the banks of the river Gironde before our afternoon appointment at Chateau Lynch-Bages.

The Lynch-Bages tour was very nice; it was just for us and the guide was very knowledgeable. The estate has saved its original winemaking equipment in a sort of museum, which made comparisons with its modern equipment very easy. Lynch-Bages produces 500k bottles each year–I had no idea they were that large–and we tasted the 2004 vintage of its first (rated 89 by the Wine Spectator) and second (unrated) labels.

Dinner was lovely. John and Natalye had us over to their house, also in St. Sauvent, and cooked us some fresh, local fare. They bought an old farmhouse 20 years ago and restored it to habitability. As with the hotel, I really love the juxtaposition of antiquity and modernity. I’ll have to keep these ideas in mind for when I have my castle some day! Good food, good wine, and good company in the French countryside–this was exactly the kind of vacation I needed!

Arrival in Cognac

Today was mostly spent traveling. We had an EARLY train (4:30 AM) to the Geneva airport, a flight to Bordeaux, a bus to the Bordeaux train station, a train to Saintes, and a taxi to St. Sauvent, just outside of Cognac. Saintes was really charming and sleepy, so sleepy that the taxi stand at the train station didn’t have any taxis, just a list of the cell phone numbers of the five taxi drivers in town.

We didn’t really know what to expect at our hotel as we had never seen it before, but we were very pleased upon arrival. The hotel is called the Design Hotel Francs-Garcons and is a very cool juxtaposition of modernity and history. A local architect and his restauranteur wife restored a crumbling, decrepit building and transformed it into a luxurious boutique hotel. They enlisted the numerous ex-pat architects who have houses in the area to help. Each architect took ownership of a room (There are only seven.) and lent it his/her particular style. Our friends from Rice, John Casbarian (Class of ’69 and Associate Dean of Architecture) and Natalye Appel (Class of ’80), former masters of Lovett College, recommended the hotel to us and were two of the architects who participated. Natalye designed the bar and John did one of the rooms–the very room where we stayed. Suffice to say that the hotel was beautiful and I would enthusiastically recommend it to anyone looking for a few days of getaway in the French countryside.

We asked Florence, the proprietor, for a lunch recommendation. Given how many restaurants were closed for Bastille Day, we were told we would have to head back into Saintes if we wanted any “chic” cuisine. However, there was a restaurant down the road with “simple” food, which sounded A-OK to us. We wandered down the farm roads in the beautiful weather and popped into the restaurant, where the cuisine was anything but simple! It was fresh, delicious, and innovative–I can’t wait to see what constitutes “chic” cuisine!

After our late lunch, our travel companions, Ron and Kathleen Moore, arrived. I know Ron through the Wine Committee of the Petroleum Club of Houston and we were excited to share this trip with them. We walked around the 12th-century church just outside our hotel window, wandered around farms and vineyards, and finally returned to the hotel for dinner. Florence offered to prepare dinner for us as well as for John, Natalye, Claudia (elder daughter), Dana (elder daughter’s friend), and Julia (younger daughter) since everything was closed for Bastille Day. That turned out to be fortunate for us because Florence’s cooking was incredible. Muscles, oysters, fresh tomatoes, fish, pizzas, beef, homemade ice cream, great local wines . . . not a bad opening dinner!

The best part was catching up with the John and Natalye family. Claudia, who was 10 when she moved into Lovett (my senior year), is now headed to Rice herself. Julia, who was only 2, is now a young lady. Time flies!

At Rice the master of each college announces the names of graduating seniors at Commencement. At Lovett we traditionally announce the college president’s name first and then the rest of the seniors in alphabetical order. As I had been the previous year’s president at Lovett, my name was to be announced first in 2001. As John had never been a college master before, these were to be the first graduating names he had ever announced. Hence, I was to be the first name he ever announced at Commencement. He took this task seriously and consulted with me about the exact pronunciation of my name, rehearsing for a full week before the ceremony. When the time finally came, “Bryan. Guido. Hassin. President of Lovett College,” came off his tongue as if he had known me for years. He showed all of the other graduates the same courtesy. As I had most of my family in town, I really appreciated that. When I finished my master’s degree, the woman announcing graduates butchered my name horribly–just not quite the same!

So it was wonderful catching up with Ron and Kathleen and the John/Natalye clan. As we’re so close to Cognac, we finished the evening with some fine XO while the Bastille Day fireworks were going off. Now that it is finally dark (which only happened about 11 PM), we are turning in to rest up before a big day of wine tasting!

Living in Lausanne

I haven’t posted in awhile. This is not because I have been under major deadline pressure, my traditional reason for latent posts. Rather it is because I spent the last week just living a normal life in Lausanne. There hasn’t been anything too extraordinary to report, the weather has been beautiful, and just poking around Lausanne has been blissful. This is really a nice place to live–even if it took me six months to discover it!

Although I’ve been meeting friends/classmates for drinks in the evenings (How novel!) I have been working throughout the days on my career strategy. With the academic portion of IMD behind us, it is now time to turn our attentions toward life after IMD. As we approach such weighty decisions, we are encouraged to call upon the skills we have developed in the business world. This means viewing ourselves as products and each conducting a thorough product specification, market analysis, and targeted market campaign.

I am taking it a step further and running my search like a business. I am the CEO of the business and thus I call upon a board of directors for help. My board consists of one VC, one pilot, two consultants, two entrepreneurs, three CXOs, a banker, a doctor, and a lawyer spread around the US and Australia. The role of this board is to help me bounce around career ideas, audit my strategy, and hold me accountable to my objectives and process. I will keep my readers updated on my career strategy as it develops and will hope to have good news to report by the end of the year!

2000

My musical odyssey has now entered the new millenium as I just wrapped up 2000. The late 90’s didn’t have much to recommend them. Good thing they’re mostly a blur of engineering problem sets and sleepless nights anyway; I’d hate to think I had missed something!

The power of musical association remains strong. Listening to the top songs of 2000 was like heading back in time to the summer of my first entreprenerial endeavor: cofounding a software company with two other Rice computer science majors. The decision to leave my comfort zone at UUNET, where I had worked since my junior year in high school, was difficult. The decision to turn down job offers from the likes of Microsoft to start up a company with no certainty was even harder.

What an experience, though! That summer in Austin was amazing, living with my best friend in a new city and learning about entrepreneurship the hard way by starting up a tech company in the middle of the tech crash! I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world and that decision is largely responsible for where I am now.

I also lived in Florence for half of 2000. As such I was pretty removed from the American pop charts. While I was there, though, I did discover the British trip hop group, Morcheeba, which I still adore. They’ve never made it onto the American charts so that just goes to show how narrow and incomplete this musical journey is.

On the subject of music, though, Buddy Guy and Robert Cray, two of my favorite blues artists (again, neither of whom have made the American pop charts), are playing just down the way at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Anyone want to go? I also have two tickets to Jimmy Buffett‘s September 19th show in Paris–who wants to join me? I don’t know if the Parisians know how to tailgate for Buffett but, if not, I’m going to teach them!

Proud To Be An American

I think this was my first Independence Day away from the US. There were no fireworks, grilling out, or singing; I guess the French just aren’t quite as excited about it as I am! I am in Marseille with my buddy Mike from Houston. We spent the day driving around Châteauneuf-du-Pape, touring wineries (Château de Beaucastel and Domaine de la Mordoree), and tasting tens of grenache-, syrah-, and mourvedre-based wines.

We then made our way to the beach (the reason we are staying in Marseille instead of in wine country) and played volleyball until way after sunset–which occurs around 10 PM here. They play really weird volleyball here; the main game is 3-on-3 (on a doubles court) and most of the points are scored not on spikes but instead on cheesy, intentional oversets and open-handed dinks. It’s not as fun for me (or for Mike, I think), but hey, when in Rome. Or when in Rhône, as it were!

It was great fun to play with Mike, who has been my volleyball partner in Houston for the past couple of years. He’s been taking some time off due to an ankle injury but he is still able to smack the ball down with the best of them–and despite my bad sets! We met a cool Brazilian named Rosh who promised to help us find some doubles games tomorrow–can’t wait!

After we made our way back to the hotel and cleaned up, it was midnight and we were just a little late for our 10 PM dinner reservation! We were still able to find some food, though, and now, full and exhausted, I think we’re going to sleep for a long, long time.

Happy Independence Day to all of you Americans out there. For all of her faults, the US is still the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Back in the Developed World

Wow. I’m back. I am most definitely in a different world. We arrived this morning to shining sun and the smells of wonderful cuisine emanating from the outdoor cafes by the train station. Never before has Lausanne felt so European to me. This is how I remember my time in bella Firenze.

Several of us seized the opportunity to head to Plage de Bellerive, the lake beach across the street from IMD, for swimming and beach volleyball. School must be out for the summer because there were myriad white teens around lying out in the sun and gabbing on cell phones—I can’t think of a starker contrast with where I was two days ago.

I’m so glad to be back. My shower is hot and has great water pressure. My tap water is clean. My toilet paper has aloe in it. I feel so safe and comfortable. But I’m not sure I can ever feel as comfortable as I did before our trip to Kenya. I have known that there are great challenges facing us as a society; increasing my ability to help address those challenges was a major reason I chose to attend IMD. Now I have seen some of those challenges first-hand and assigned faces to them, something I don’t think I will ever forget.

I don’t expect this to change my lifestyle dramatically. I will still work out, still eat a lot, still enjoy fine wines and arts. But whenever I search for meaning in what I do or wonder if I can really make a difference, I will forever have in my memory faces that tell me I have no choice but to give it all I’ve got.

The Poorest of the Poor

Wow, today was intense. We began with a trip into the heart of Korogocha, one of Africa’s largest (~400k people, but no one really knows how many) slums. As we bussed in, many had to close their windows as the stench was revolting. We caused quite a spectacle traveling along the narrow, make-shift streets as we passed shanty after shanty. Many kids climbed onto the back of the bus and hitched a ride. Outsiders don’t often visit the slums, where crime and disease are rampant.

Korogocha is located next to Nairobi’s only landfill. A major industry within the slum is for kids to rifle through dumped trash, finding used goods than can be sold for a few shillings on the “street.” We passed such a “market” and it was amazing how many odds and ends had been collected and categorized: combs, mirrors (broken), sunglasses, toothbrushes . . . I suddenly felt extremely guilty for everything I had ever thrown away. Much of the trash in the landfill is burned, emitting fumes that penetrate Korogocha and cause respiratory illness in its inhabitants.

We finally arrived at our destination: St. Peter’s Catholic Church, a heavily fortified compound in the middle of the slum. The moment we stepped down from the bus, all of the churchgoing children came to greet us; we were instant celebrities. I think Roberto (Mexican) and Steffen (Danish) were the most popular. While the rest of us were listening to Father Daniel tell us about the history of the mission, they were chasing the kids around, instigating giggles and squeals of glee. At one point Roberto practically incited a riot; he had all the kids shouting in unison, “MEX-I-CO! MEX-I-CO!”

Church service began at 10:30 AM. We spread out and sat with local churchgoers. As is my way, I made my way to the front and center. After a few minutes, others arrived and informed me that this was the choir’s section. They invited me to stay but I assured them that they did NOT want that! I made my way back a few rows and sat between two nice men who helped me adhere to the local customs throughout the service.

The “church” was an amphitheater with cement stadium-style seating plus a few benches in the middle. The service was in Swahili but the men around me translated some of the important parts for me. It was the day of saints Peter and Paul, so the homily was about Peter and the rock and was pretty easily understood regardless of the language. At one point my classmate, Martin (Czech), was invited up to lift a heavy rock as part of an interactive demonstration. He elicited wild applause from the audience.

The service was something akin to the Pentecostal service I attended once in Washington DC. There was lots of singing, clapping, dancing/swaying, handholding, smiling, and laughing. At one point we all held hands and cast the darkness out of our lives with emphatic chanting, gesturing, and dancing. Each time I thought I had the hang of it, the steps changed. Fortunately the men on either side of me where gracious and patient and helped me figure it out.

At one point I was about to sit back down when the man to my left pointed out that a boy behind me had urinated on the ground and I was about to sit in it—thanks for the heads-up! And toward the end of the service the wind changed such that the smell of the fetid, baking landfill next door came over; it was nauseating. But the smiles continued and spirits were high; it was inspiring.

The service ended at 12:30 and we had a few minutes to explore the church compound on our own. I had heard about their sports programs so I went immediately to their gym. It could hardly be called a gym; it was a shack with a bunch of broken down equipment haphazardly scattered around. Those who used it had no instruction and just kind of did what others, who had in turn learned from others before them, did. It was almost definitely suboptimal and probably unsafe, but the dedication was inspiring. Here were people living on less than $1 per day and they were still making time to lift weights and train for sport. Rocky would have been so proud. I wish we had stayed longer; I gladly would have organized a training session.

Our lunch was set up intentionally to show the stark contrast within the city. We dined at the Safari Club, a country club just a few minutes drive away from the slum. It had a swimming pool with waterfalls and slide, elegant cuisine, and a fitness center that was everything St. Peter’s gym wasn’t: pristine equipment, LCD TVs, clean water . . . Lunch was pretty quiet. Even the singing of “Happy Birthday” to Sidney (French) was barely audible.

After lunch we returned to Korogocha, this time heading to another fortified compound: the orphanage of Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity. No one knew quite what to expect here; I, for one, didn’t even know what the order did. Its mission is to reach out to “the poorest of the poor,” and that is exactly what these sisters did. They had four main charges there: rescue orphaned babies and give them a place to live, take care of mentally and physically disabled children who are unwanted by their families, take care of mentally and physically disabled adults who are unwanted by their families, and take care of HIV-positive children/adults.

This appointment wasn’t like any other. We didn’t meet with any administrators or attend any presentation. We just split up, walked around, and met with the occupants. My group’s first visit was to the disabled children. Some of them stared listlessly at an unseen horizon; some spoke unintelligibly; some showed off by playing with toys . Most of them wanted to hold hands, share their stuffed animals, or just chit chat and laugh and squeal. The listless children had flies crawling all over them. No matter how feverishly the flies were shooed away, they invariably came right back. It was heart breaking.

When it was time for us to move on, the children didn’t want to let go. Our next stop was with the disabled adults. They were sitting around the perimeter of a room finishing lunch. We walked around the circle and introduced ourselves to each. One spoke really excellent English. I remarked to her that she spoke much better English than Elvis (Chinese), who was just to my left. This invoked raucous laughter from many others and one woman almost choked on her food.

Our final visit was with the orphaned babies and children. The children were ecstatic to see us. Each and every one of them wanted to be picked up and held. This posed a problem since they outnumbered us 2-to-1! But it was a lot of fun throwing one kid up into the air, putting him down and grabbing another, chasing one around the room, lending sunglasses to kids who heads were way too small for them, and just generally playing with and holding them.

On the ride back to the hotel it was hard to get charged up for our closing dinner. After a full day with the poorest of the poor it was time for reflection, not celebration. These people were amazing. Despite everything they had going against them there was no shortage of will for and celebration of life. They understood the hand they had been dealt, accepted it, and made the best of it. They smiled and laughed and hoped for something better. May God bless them, Father Daniel, and the good sisters.

Closing dinner was nice, at a churrascaria called Carnivore. I vowed to eat exclusively crocodile and ostrich and, for the most part, I kept my promise. I didn’t have much of an appetite, though. We watched part of the EuroCup finals between Germany and Spain, but I caught the first bus back to the hotel and called it an early night.

The dichotomy of Kenya is strong. We have met with wildly successful entrepreneurs and we have played with those rejected and forgotten by even the poorest of society. Perhaps I am naïve in thinking Kenya is exceptional; perhaps such disparity exists everywhere. Regardless, this trip has opened my eyes very pointedly to the fact that it exists and strengthened my commitment to responsibility in leadership. Perhaps I alone can’t save the environment, the endangered animals, and the poor everywhere around the world. But I suspect that if we ALL accept the mantle of responsibility in our professional lives, we can make great strides to those ends. Sorry I don’t have anything eloquent or rousing to say tonight, but I am drained. Good night.