The baron and the beauty of diversity

When Patrick, Baron de Ladoucette, expanded his French wine empire into Ireland, it was a business decision that had a great friendship at its heart

Château du Nozet in Pouilly-sur-Loire: the power base of the Ladoucette wine empire

The Baron de Ladoucette is perhaps best known to wine lovers under the shortened monicker Baron de L, the name of one of world’s the finest sauvignon blanc wines, which hails from the Pouilly-Fumé appellation.

Apart from being the top wine of Pouilly-Fumé, it is also the name of one of France’s leading wine estate owners, Patrick, Baron de Ladoucette. His ancestral family, the Comte Lafond, had lands in Burgundy and in what ...