Like just about every other spot in Kyoto, the second-story wine shop turned after-hours bar tucked down an alleyway was almost impossible to find. But once we arrived, the tiny elevator opened to reveal a small, glass-enclosed space filled with wine-world royalty. Among those sipping exquisite Burgundy from fine crystal stemware were Pablo Álvarez, proprietor of Vega Sicilia, port winemaker Charles Symington, and the youthful, bearded Jean-Frédéric Hugel, in his mid-30s the youngest person present except for Isabelle Müller, daughter of renowned Riesling master Egon Müller. The latter was holding a glass of red in one hand and tapping in time to the music on the marble bar, surrounded by Europe’s viticulture elite who, rather than viewing one another as rivals for profits or prestige, had traveled to Japan as comrades, all members of a very exclusive society: Primum Familiae Vini—Latin for “First Families of Wine.”
As each bottle was quickly drained, folks like Mireia Torres Maczassek, the fifth-generation director of knowledge and innovation at Spain’s Familia Torres, along with Charles Perrin, the fifth-generation co-owner of Famille Perrin in France’s Rhône Valley, would buy another and share it around. The strikingly tall Álvarez was locked in a deep discussion about who produces the best canned anchovies and tuna in Spain when Symington and his wife, Marta, hit the tiny makeshift dance floor, grooving to the Sérgio Mendes–Black Eyed Peas version of “Mas Que Nada,” then “What’s New Pussycat” by Julian Marley. Around midnight—considered late not only for this dimly lit speakeasy but also for Kyoto—the remaining revelers consulted phones and texted local contacts to figure out where to take the party next, which carried on into the wee hours of the morning.
From left: The large oak fermentation vats at Vega Sicilia in Spain; guests gather for a wine tasting at Domaine Joseph Drouhin in France.
Courtesy of Vega Sicilia/Serge Chapus
Despite appearances to the contrary, Primum Familiae Vini (PFV) was originally formed not as a social club but as a business association. Established in 1993, PFV offered the most revered clans in the industry the opportunity to exchange information and insights with the goal of safeguarding their heritage. The members had flown to Kyoto last spring to jointly present a six-figure award to a multigenerational lacquer business that, much like their own, “focused on the preservation of handcrafted tradition and skills.” First proposed by Robert Drouhin of Maison Joseph Drouhin in Burgundy and Miguel Torres of Familia Torres, PFV grew out of their concerns for the future of estates like theirs. The two were “talking informally in the vineyards in Burgundy about the challenges of being a family business in viticulture,” says Frédéric Drouhin, Robert’s son and C.E.O. of Maison Joseph Drouhin. “The idea was to share our questioning and to create a kind of think tank with people we like who are iconic in their areas and are managed by several generations.”
Torres Maczassek adds that her father and the elder Drouhin realized that “they shared the same concerns and aspirations regarding the continuity of independent family wine companies.” Shortly thereafter, she notes, “PFV was born with the aim of preserving not only a way of making wine but also a unique business model based on family values and long-term commitment.”
The two men settled on capping the membership at 12 because it’s small enough to be intimate yet large enough to encompass a wide range of experiences. The first family they asked to join was the Antinoris, the proprietors of Marchesi Antinori, which lays claim to 640 years of winemaking history and is currently run by the 26th and 27th generations. Three months after their initial conversation, the two founders drove to Florence—Torres from Barcelona and Drouhin from Beaune, France—to meet with Piero Antinori. After that session, the three patriarchs began reaching out to other heavyweight clans. New additions came aboard gradually, at the recommendation of existing members. Soon enough the association included Baron Philippe de Rothschild, Pol Roger, Famille Hugel, Egon Müller, the Symingtons (who own port houses Graham’s, Dow’s, Warre’s, and Cockburn’s), the Incisa della Rocchetta family, owners of Tenuta San Guido (which produces Sassicaia), and Vega Sicilia’s owners, the Álvarez family.
Antinori is set into the landscape as if it were carved into the rolling hills of the Chianti Classico region of Italy.
Francesco Landi
“There is no competition or commercial agenda between us,” says Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, chairman and C.E.O. of the winery bearing his surname, so “the PFV families are the rare people we can exchange with freely, without any hidden agenda.”
Among the vineyard’s other impressive architecture is a spiral staircase connecting the building’s three levels.
Francesco Landi
Easing any specter of competition: The clans represent many different regions and grape varieties. But the sense of closeness also comes from shared lifestyles and family dynamics. “Many of us have known each other for a long time, and that history creates a bond that goes much deeper than the connections you make at trade events,” says Matthieu Perrin, co-owner and fifth-generation winemaker of the eponymous business. Egon Müller, the bespectacled proprietor and winemaker of Weingut Egon Müller-Scharzhof in Germany’s Mosel Valley, notes, “I have a few winemaking friends outside PFV, but PFV is more like family. To be together always feels like a family gathering.”
The picturesque estate of Weingut Egon Müller-Scharzhof in Germany’s Mosel region.
Courtesy of Weingut Egon Müller – Scharzhof
Just three members have left PFV over the decades: the Prats family of Château Cos d’Estournel in 1998, Robert Mondavi in 2005, and Paul Jaboulet Aîné in 2006. In each case, the departure followed the sale of the winery to an outsider, because the organization’s ethos requires that every estate remain independent, under 100 percent family ownership.
When one exits, the remaining members take time to identify an ideal successor. “What makes it so unique is that you cannot apply to join,” says Matthieu Perrin, whose Famille Perrin joined in 2006, after Robert Mondavi exited. “You must be invited, and the invitation is only extended when all members unanimously agree.”
A worker places a bottle in the Famille Perrin cellar.
Serge Chapus
Just as it takes many years from the moment a vine is planted to the time that it produces wine-worthy grapes and even longer until that wine is ready to be enjoyed, it was almost 12 years before Domaine Clarence Dillon ascended to the place vacated by Paul Jaboulet Aîné in 2006, after having been proposed by several members. For many years, the association worked harmoniously with 11 families who didn’t feel any pressure to expand simply to return to the number 12. “I’m the baby of the PFV family—I only joined in 2018,” says Prince Robert of Luxembourg, president of Domaine Clarence Dillon, which operates Château Haut-Brion, Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Château Quintus, and Clarendelle, all in Bordeaux, plus other wine and hospitality businesses there and in Paris. The current president of PFV (the role changes annually), the prince most appreciates the group because, as the sole member of his family working full-time in an executive capacity for the company, he is happy to have other people in the industry that he can use as a “sounding board” for such issues as how best to expand visitor experiences on his properties.
An iris-lined pond is a peaceful accent at Famille Perrin in France’s Rhône valley.
Nicolas Facenda
Referring to Dragon’s Den, a television show akin to Shark Tank in which participants pitch a business idea to a panel to win funding, the prince explains that talking to other multigenerational wine families with a long-term perspective helps him with investment and planning decisions. “Imagine my great-grandfather coming to them in 1935 and saying, ‘I’m going to buy this First Growth that’s losing money hand over fist,’ or even buying La Mission—which was going through a rough period in 1983—none of these make sense,” he says, aware that while his seasoned peers can offer well-considered advice, on TV he “would be turned down every time.”
Members also applaud PFV’s implementation of a technical committee, which was spearheaded by Mireia Torres Maczassek, César Perrin, and Charles Symington. Torres Maczassek and her brother, Miguel, are considered leaders in climate-change response, including uncovering and re-propagating nearly extinct grape varieties that may fare better in extreme heat and drought. “We learned a lot about what other families have been doing in their regions, and we shared findings from our grape-variety research plantations,” says Symington, speaking about the first meeting of the committee, held on one of his family’s Douro estates in 2023. “Given the challenges from the impacts of climate change, this type of knowledge sharing is incredibly useful for our viticulture teams.”
The Perrin family at their winery this past summer.
Courtesy of Famille Perrin
In addition to meeting up for committee sessions (which are also held virtually) and special occasions such as the biennial PFV Prize ceremony, the families take turns hosting annual shindigs at their various estates. These all-age affairs, thrown at the end of June, when harvest is on the horizon but not an immediate concern, have counted as many as 70 participants spanning four generations, from semiretired to still-active patriarchs and matriarchs down to toddlers who are years away from choosing a career path—or sipping their first Champagne.
Jean-Frédéric Hugel, whose family’s winemaking lineage dates to 1639 and whose four-year-old son, Gabin, is now among the youngest guests, recalls that he attended his first PFV meeting as a preteen at Château Mouton Rothschild and that he has developed many friendships within his peer group. “It was a wise calculation by my father to get my sister and I on board and to get us involved and interested in wine,” he says, adding that visiting top wineries each year was “also a great ‘training camp’ to discover the main wine regions of Europe.” While still a young teenager, the scion visited Familia Torres near Barcelona, where he became close friends with Cristina Torres, one of the few non-French members in his age bracket who spoke French, which was a blessing considering that all of the adults around them were discussing business and his usual companions Alexis, Victoria, and Maximilien de Billy, whose family owns Champagne Pol Roger, were not present.
From left: Lit at night, Château Mouton Rothschild’s Grand Chai barrel cellar becomes a stunning part of the scenery in Bordeaux; oak fermentation vats at Château Mouton Rothschild’s Grand Cuvier.
Pierre Grenet/Alain Benoit
While many members are tight-lipped about what goes on when everyone gets together, Hugel is more forthcoming. He recounts discovering sweet port wine as a teenager while visiting the Symingtons at one of their Douro Valley estates; he hadn’t tried it before because it is “widely underappreciated and misunderstood in France.” The port may have left an impression for other reasons as well: He says he and his fellow young members each “borrowed” a bottle of 10-year-old tawny port from their hosts on the night of the annual town festival in Pinhão, where they drove bumper cars “before sneaking back into the hotel for a late room party,” in the most remote spot they could find.
Hugel also recalls a trip to Domaine Drouhin in Burgundy that concluded with a ride to the train station in Beaune chauffeured in an old Peugeot by none other than Aubert de Villaine, proprietor of the hallowed Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, who is not a PFV member but remains wine-world royalty nonetheless. Speaking of which, the concept of royalty among members of PFV is no exaggeration, though some of the blue blood flowing through members’ veins is merely aristocratic. In addition to Prince Robert of Luxembourg, there was the late Baroness Philippine de Rothschild. The familial head of Marchesi Antinori is Marchese Piero Antinori, and the clan’s current PFV representative is his daughter Alessia, whose maternal grandfather was Alberico Boncompagni Ludovisi, Prince of Venosa. Meanwhile, Tenuta San Guido is led by Marchese Nicolò Incisa della Rocchetta, who also claims a saint in his family tree, and next-generation leader Priscilla Incisa della Rocchetta is married to Prince Heinrich zu Sayn-Wittgenstein. Oh, and Alessia and Priscilla happen to be cousins, as their grandmothers were sisters. But no, there have not been any intra-PFV marriages to date, which Miguel Torres has called, tongue perhaps in cheek, his “greatest regret about PFV.”
Camille Sereys de Rothschild, Philippe Sereys de Rothschild, and Julien de Beaumarchais de Rothschild inside the estate’s Great Barrel Hall.
Courtesy of Château Mouton Rothschild
Titled or not, members frequently travel together to promote their wines in markets around the world and share booths at international trade fairs such as Wine Paris or ProWein in Düsseldorf. They also tend to gravitate toward each other at large commercial and consumer tastings featuring the world’s best wines, especially in the U.S., where it’s not unusual to see two or more members out from behind the tables at which their wine is being poured, huddled in conversation, always with a glass in hand.
Members trade recommendations for importers and distributors, but they also serve as confidants for more personal business matters. Müller has spoken with his counterparts about how to handle succession when he retires. Although he always thought that the business would pass to his son, also named Egon, he has realized that his extroverted daughter, Isabelle, is more likely to become the family delegate to PFV and the face of the brand while his son focuses on winemaking, so he is looking for a solution, he says, “to pass on the property that lets them work together.”
Drouhin notes that many of the wineries’ histories stretch back centuries, meaning there are multiple branches of the family and a lot of cousins to appease. “We are not in that situation yet, but we must pave the road for the future,” he says, grateful that older, larger families have shared their charters with him and his sister, Veronique.
Hugel—who had to step in and lead Famille Hugel when his father died suddenly in 2016—and his sister were grateful to have had an up-close look at a precedent set by the de Billy family. “In a generational switch, we were left understaffed as family members, and the experience of Pol Roger had us admit it was O.K. to have a general manager that wasn’t from the family,” he says. “Without a real-life example, this might have remained a taboo in our family.”
The Oratorio di San Guido, an 18th-century stone chapel framed by cypresses at the entrance to the Tenuta San Guido estate in Tuscany.
Davide Bischeri
Alessia Antinori, who is now vice president of Marchesi Antinori, recalls a trip to Asia many years ago when, as the youngest member and one of only two women on the journey, she had the opportunity to get to know the legendary Baroness de Rothschild, the first woman in her illustrious family’s then five generations of winery ownership to run the business. The baroness and Antinori’s father were close friends, so she immediately took Alessia under her wing and over time became her mentor. “We were women in a very male-oriented business, especially in Asia in those years,” Antinori says, noting that they developed their own lasting bond. “She became my mentor.”
That sense that it takes a village extends to coveted internships and less-formal tutorials in a multigenerational web of relationships that arguably could not be replicated in any other industry. “We have already welcomed members of the Hugel and Torres families for internships,” says Hubert de Billy, fifth-generation proprietor of Champagne Pol Roger. “Some members of our family have been welcomed at Mouton Rothschild, Perrin, Torres, and Egon Müller. We share knowledge between several families and several generations.” While it is not uncommon for youthful winemakers at the start of their careers to work a harvest at an estate owned by their parents’ friends, the benefit of this type of exclusive access to Europe’s top domains via PFV connections cannot be overstated.
Since the Mondavis left in 2005, all of the clans have been European, but four also operate wineries in the U.S., including Domaine Drouhin Oregon, which hosted the group in summer 2024. On one especially memorable evening, the group’s bus broke down on the way back from dinner, leaving them “stuck at a remote gas station in the middle of nowhere,” Frédéric Drouhin recalls. “Some PFV members walked off of the bus to buy beer,” which caused them all to joke about being the cream of the crop of the wine world drinking gas-station beer on a party bus, replete with loud music and flashing disco lights. Though some members were happy to partake of the brews while awaiting a replacement bus, Prince Robert took matters into his own hands: “I’m embarrassed to say that I did eventually find my own solution. Maybe I should have stayed there on the bus, but I did something terrible: I ordered an Uber.”
A temperature-controlled lagar at Symington in Portugal where grapes are gently crushed and fermented in shallow tanks.
Antonio Luis Campos
Prince Robert was a member of the group’s executive committee when the idea of granting a prize to a multigenerational business came about. “We wanted to see the values that we talk about in our winemaking family companies reflected in artisanal families that share some of the same interests, concerns, traditions, and values in other areas,” he explains, “so that we can put a light on their journey and the quality of what they are producing.”
First awarded in 2021, the €100,000 prize (about $117,000) has been presented to such disparate enterprises as Europe’s oldest luthier workshop (Brussels-based Maison Bernard) and a 200-year-old manufacturer of throws, blankets, scarves, and shawls (Brun de Vian-Tiran, in Provence). In 2025, the recipient was Tsutsumi Asakichi, a fourth-generation producer of Japanese natural lacquer called urushi, used to coat tableware, artwork, and religious artifacts. A painstaking process that dates back 10,000 years, it requires the removal of tree sap by hand over the course of about five months, with the total output from a tree—which can be used only once—totaling less than half a pound of sap. Founded in 1909, this family-owned business faces many of the same difficulties as those of the wine industry, including climate change, deer and other invasive fauna, and a large drop in demand, which has fallen 90 percent in the past 40 years. Frédéric Drouhin says that he was surprised by the “tiny” size of the “factory,” a four-story workspace and showroom in Kyoto about the size of a New York City brownstone. But he was impressed by Tsutsumi Asakichi Urushi’s ability to develop new products, such as lacquered surfboards and UV-resistant lacquer for architectural structures and cultural sites.
“The importance of the award we at the PFV give is the recognition of family businesses that, like us, fight every day to preserve family and traditions in their work,” says Pablo Álvarez. Noting that the majority of companies around the globe are family-owned, he adds, “Families, with their miseries and greatness, are the only ones capable of creating the embryo of what will become great companies in the future. And more so in wine than in any other type of business, I believe that family is essential for having the patience and ability to create something great with a living being.” That said, why settle for one family when you can have 12?
Authors
-
Mike DeSimone and Jeff Jenssen
