The table matters more.
In Paris recently, I noticed how much daily life still revolved around the table. Cafés remained full throughout the day. Nothing felt rushed. Gathering with friends seemed part of the rhythm rather than an interruption.
Whether over coffee, a bottle of wine, or plates shared among friends, the table asks something of us: to show up, slow down, and engage.
The table provides a center of gravity. We have to listen and make room for others.
Much of my professional life has centered on connecting institutions, each with its own responsibilities and priorities, around shared goals. That work often began with getting the right people to the table. Present and engaged.
Sometimes the challenge was getting everyone there. Other times it was getting them to play nicely once they arrived and after they left. I used to compare it to getting the cat and the mouse to eat from the same bowl.
Working from outside those institutions often helped me see connections that were harder to recognize from within them.
That required patience and an understanding of what each participant valued. Collaboration only works when everyone can see what they stand to gain. People rarely give up their own priorities. I help them see where those priorities could meet.
That is part of what draws me to wine and hospitality.
I enjoy bringing together people who might not otherwise meet and helping build relationships that extend beyond a transaction.
The best hospitality can feel effortless. The work behind it rarely is.
The opportunity is not simply to attract people to a destination. It is to give them a reason to return and feel that they belong.
Bordeaux is one place where I see that possibility clearly. Its wine, history, and hospitality already give people reasons to come. The larger opportunity lies in how those elements are brought together and in the relationships that can form around them.
I welcome the challenge of helping estates and producers look beyond their own gates and recognize that the future of the region requires collective effort to overcome its current challenges. They can come together to meet those challenges while preserving their respective identities and priorities.
My work has taught me that challenges can become opportunities with the right people and a fresh perspective at the table. The scale and setting can change. Instinct and skill do not. Bring people together around something that matters, and the exchange can become more than anyone planned.
A region becomes more than the sum of its institutions when people recognize what they can create together.
Possibility begins at the table.
À table.