Chateau Margaux heiress recalls her first sip of wine - at age three

Tell us about the wine bar Clarette, which you opened in London last year? “The wines are 50 per cent French, but we also have bottles from around the world. Because London is an international city, we wanted to show we aren’t only French, we aren’t just Bordeaux – we are open-minded, we travel everywhere. I thought the restaurant could run itself but you can’t do that at all – that was a real life lesson. When people told me restaurant life is very difficult, I said, ‘Bah!’ But voila! Now that it’s open and running, it’s exciting to have your own thing.”

What was your childhood like? “I grew up in Paris. My Mum didn’t think it was good for kids to grow up in the chateau. [If I did], I think I would not be the same. When we went there for holidays or weekends, people would take pictures and I asked my Mum, ‘Why are people taking pictures of me?’”

“She decided we would grow up in Paris and have a normal childhood. Every day, there are buses of people coming to the chateau. When we were young, we were there for three weeks during the harvest. I skipped school [during that period], which was the good part. I have a sister who is three years older and we would pick two or three grapes and we thought we were harvesting.”

Do you remember your first sip of wine? “At three or four years old; from the time I was old enough to sit at the table. I’m a true believer in educating kids at an early age about wines and cham­pagnes. We were taught early that it’s not a forbidden thing because the more it’s forbidden the more you want to do it.”

Why did you study art history? “It’s always been my passion. I learned art his­tory at 18 after my bacca­laureate and wanted to continue studying it, but my father wanted me to go to business school first and then I could do whatever I wanted. In France, business school is very general – you learn accounting, finance and a bit of law. Now I know how to read a spreadsheet, I know a few legal things.

And then I did my master’s in art history for one year in London. I focused on Impressionists and modern [art]. Then I did an internship at Christie’s in the Impressionists and modern art depart­ment and it was the best three months of my life. I learned much more about modern art; at first I didn’t like it but now I’m getting a bit into contemporary.”