Jenny in Paris

Francois Ecot and Jenny Lefcourt tasting wines along with other sommeliers at Le Mauzac in Paris

A wine importer story (Jenny and Francois Selections).
When young New-Yorker Jenny Lefcourt first visited Paris in 1991 for a 6-month exchange from Cornell U, she met both Francois and the wine world. She had not the smallest idea then that the course of events would one day make her open a wine-import business from France to the U.S.. Her academic interest was primarily culture, litterature and cinema and not wine, but what was to be her future career all came by itself: just by enjoying great moments in local bistrots like le Passavent (a bistrot/restaurant with a great wine list), drinking wine "à la ficelle", a new and magical way to serve wine for her (a bottle of your choice is brought to your table and you just pay for what you drink). They also used to go eat at Le Baratin, a restaurant with great food and a selection of natural wines (maybe one of the first in Paris then with such an exclusive wine list). She spent these years between Paris, New York and Harvard (where she studied the french cinema), and several grants helped her stay in Paris. She did not know at the time what natural wine was about, but the difference in the way these wines tasted began to raise her awareness and curiosity on the subject. [ Upper left picture: Jenny with Claude Courtois at a tasting of his wines plus book-signing, at Café de Flore ]

Jenny Lefcourt listening to a vigneron

One day as she was waiting for the bus in front of L'Ange Vin (the Paris wine bistrot owned then by Jean-Pierre Robinot), she noticed a poster about the coming Groslay wine fair (a small professional wine fair near Paris). She didn't know Robinot or the Groslay fair and just walked in the bar to ask. Unexpected encounters like this one were the beginning of new friendships with passionate people. Henri Milan, the winemaker of St Remy de Provence, for example : she recalls how, as they were discovering his wines, he said to both of them "if you work in wine someday, we'll work together" (they had actually no plans for wine business at the time)... With Hervé Souhaut too, it was a story of an encounter and immediate friendship: they had stopped at his place in Ardèche to taste his Rhone wines. They did taste his wines, and talk...for 10 hours.

Source:http://www.wineterroirs.com/page/10/