Alexis Lichine (December 3, 1913 – June 1, 1989) was a Russian wine writer and entrepreneur. He played a key role in promoting

varietal A varietal wine is a wine made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label.The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, 2000.winepros.com.au. ...

labelling of wine, was a masterful salesman of wine, had interests in two

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

wineries, owning Château Prieuré-Lichine in Margaux and a share of Château Lascombes in the Médoc. He was married to actress Arlene Dahl from 1964 to 1969.

Early life

Lichine was born in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

in 1913. His family fled to France during the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, going on to the United States in 1919. He studied economics at the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

but dropped out because he felt he wasn't learning anything. In 1932 Lichine moved back to Paris and accepted a sales position with ''The New York Herald Tribune''. In 1933 he continued in sales for ''The New York Herald Tribune'' in Algiers, and in 1934 moved back to New York as

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

ended.

Career

Lechine attempted to start his own import wine company but failed, and in 1935 worked for the Cork and Bottle retail store in New York, and became a

US citizen Citizenship of the United States is a citizenship, legal status that entails Americans with specific rights, duties, protections, and benefits in the United States. It serves as a foundation of fundamental rights derived from and protected by ...

. He then went to work for Saccone and Speed, a New York wine importer, and in 1938 he was hired by wine merchant Frank Schoonmaker as his national sales manager. On the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Lichine caught the last American ocean liner out of Bordeaux, the SS Manhattan. During the war he served in the United States Army Military Intelligence, in Europe and North Africa and was given the rank of Major by the commanding headquarters of the Delta Bar Section of the US Military Intelligence. He was released at Fort Dix, New Jersey on April 18, 1946. He was awarded the Order of Leopold, the Belgium Bronze Star and the World War II recognition from the French Legion of Honor. On his return from the war, Lichine asked for full partnership in the company. Schoonmaker declined and Lichine left. In 1946 he went to work for the import wine division of United Distillers of America. In 1947 he purchased a

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

farm in Jacks Bay in St. Croix. In the same year he married the Countess Renee de Villeneuve in New York. In July 1948 he was hired by Claude Philippe of the

Waldorf Astoria New York The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, is a 47-story, Art Deco landmark des ...

hotel to buy wines in Europe for them. The same year he was divorced from the Countess. In 1949 Lechine hired Pierre de Wilde (from Château du Tertre) as his assistant wine buyer. In 1950 Lichine became the export manager for Château Haut-Brion. In 1955 Lichine founded Alexis Lichine Negociants in Long Island City, New York. He moved to Margaux in the

Gironde Gironde ( , US usually , ; , ) is the largest department in the southwestern French region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine. Named after the Gironde estuary, a major waterway, its prefecture is Bordeaux. In 2019, it had a population of 1,623,749.

to set up a shipping organization, Lichine & Cie., which became a leading exporter of first quality wines. In 1951 Lichine purchased Château Prieuré-Lichine and in 1952 also became part owner and manager of Château Lascombes. In the same year he started billboard advertising of his wine tasting room at the Prieure. This was the first time in the wine industry that professional wine tasting rooms were set up for the general public. In 1953 he purchased parcels in Latricieres in Chambertin and Bonnes Mares in Chambolle-Musigny. In 1956 Lichine married Gisèle Edenbourgh. Their first child Alexandra was born in 1957. Their second child Alexis Andrew Serge ( Sacha) was born in 1960. Sacha went on to be a successful winemaker in his own right, as the creator of Whispering Angel. In 1959 Lichine was a member of a committee that unsuccessfully launched a bid to revise the

Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855 resulted from the Exposition Universelle (1855), 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris, when Emperor Napoleon III of France, Napoleon III requested a classification system for France's best Bordea ...

. Undeterred, Lichine published his own '' Classification des Grands Crus Rouges de Bordeaux'' in 1962 and made several revisions in the following years while campaigning for changes to a classification he contended was outdated. His efforts led him to be referred to as "the doyen of unofficial classification compilers". Lichine served as an expert taster in the New York Wine Tasting of 1973. In 1987, Lichine was chosen the "Man of the Year" by the wine magazine '' Decanter''.

Varietal Labeling

Starting around 1940, Lichine and Schoonmaker promoted the idea that California producers should label their wines by the grape variety or varieties from which they were made. The standard practice among New World producers was to give their wines

semi-generic ''Semi-generic'' is a legal term used in by the United States Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to refer to a specific type of wine designation. The majority of these were originally based on the names of well-known European wine-producin ...

labels. That is, they named them after the regions whose wines they resembled. For example, full-bodied red varieties might be labeled "Burgundy", whereas crisp whites might be labeled "Chablis". California's Wente Vineyards was the first winery to adopt the practice. After calling its Sauvignon blanc by its varietal name rather than labeling it "Graves," Lichine and Schoonmaker found its sales volume to increase several-fold. More importantly, they were able to sell it in the important east coast U.S. market. Others, such as Robert Mondavi, soon adopted the practice, which has become the standard for

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

(and, increasingly, some Old World) wines.

Death

Lichine died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

at Château Prieuré-Lichine on June 1, 1989, aged 75. He was succeeded by his son Sacha (then aged 28), who later moved to Switzerland and sold Prieure-Lichine in August 1999.

Legacy

In 2008, he was posthumously inducted into the Wine Writers' Hall of Fame by the Wine Media Guild of New York.

Books

Lichine's writings included ''Wines of France'' (1951, revised 1955), ''Alexis Lichine's Guide to Wines and Vineyards of France'' (rev. 1989), co-author, Sam Perkins, and ''Alexis Lichine’s Encyclopedia of Wines and Spirits'' (1967, rev. 1987). ''The New York Times'' wine critic Frank J. Prial asserted that "Alexis Lichine, the Russian-American who loved France but hated the French, taught his adopted country to drink wine".

References

* Prial, Frank J
Alexis Lichine, 76, an Author and Expert on Wine
Obituary in ''The New York Times'', June 2, 1989. * Prial, Frank J. ''Decantations: Reflections on Wine by the New York Times Wine Critic''. NY: St. Martin's Griffin, 2001. * Hennessy, Leslie A. ''The Pope of Wine: A Biography of Alexis Lichine''. SF: Montrachet Publishing, 2009. * Goodman, Mark.

. ''People'', April 7, 1975. ;Footnotes {{DEFAULTSORT:Lichine, Alexis 1913 births 1989 deaths Deaths from cancer in France United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army officers Businesspeople from Moscow 20th-century Russian businesspeople Wine merchants Wine critics White Russian emigrants to the United States