Notes from Rosemary George:

"Gregory, despite his name is very firmly French; his father is English, but his mother is French and he was born in Paris and was brought up in France, so speaks French rather than English.  Wine for him was a complete change of direction; he was working as a sports journalist in Paris, but his wife’s family comes from the Médoc, and he had what he called his Damascus moment in a vineyard in Bordeaux and realised that he wanted to change direction.  Initially he worked as a sommelier and in a wine shop, but he was selling wines that he did not choose and realised that he was really interested in the plant, so he studied oenology in Beaune and worked for Yannick Pelletier in St. Chinian while he looked for vineyards, and chance led to a meeting with somebody in Aspiran who had five hectares for sale, two plots of old vines, red and white, Grenache, Syrah, Cinsaut and Carignan, and Terret blanc and Grenache blanc, with an average of 50 years.  There is half a hectare of 70 year old Carignan and Cinsaut and some 85 year old Grenache, the oldest Grenache in the village, and the Syrah is a bit younger.  It sounded as though Gregory had really struck lucky."