The following article by Eli Greenblat comes from The Age, 7/10/2013
Australian wine-making legend Brian Croser, founder of Petaluma, has attracted the big guns of champagne to his latest wine venture, with the scion of France’s famous Bollinger champagne house joining the board of his privately owned Tapanappa Wines.
Etienne Bizot, the great-nephew of Lily Bollinger and the sixth generation of the family to be involved in Champagne Bollinger, has joined Tapanappa Wines as a director.
Mr Bizot, who resides in Paris, is the managing director of Bollinger, lovingly known in Britain as ‘‘Bolly’’, one of the world’s best- known champagne brands, with a pedigree going back to 1829.
The champagne house was awarded its first Royal Warrant of Appointment by Queen Victoria in 1884, making it the first official champagne of the British Empire.
But there is also a strong connection between Bollinger and Australia. Bollinger was an early investor in Petaluma before Mr Croser sold to Lion Nathan in 2001, and the champagne house later reunited with the winemaker in 2002 when he created Tapanappa.
Bollinger is a shareholder in Tapanappa, together with the Cazes family of the 150-year-old Chateau Lynch Bages. Current boss Jean-Charles Cazes is a director of Tapanappa.
