Tony Jordan, the well-travelled senior winemaker for Moet et Chandon’s international developments outside France, is about to earn a whole pile more frequent flyer points. He’s just accepted an extension of his job that sees him become chief executive of Cape Mentelle, which also owns Mountadam and Cloudy Bay. Based at Domaine Chandon in Victoria’s Yarra Valley, Jordan will be spending a lot of time in the near future at Cape Mentelle’s Margaret River base, becoming familiar with the company, which is fully owned by the same group that owns Moet et Chandon and Veuve Clicquot. Cape Mentelle’s founder and former chief executive, David Hohnen, is withdrawing from daily management of the business. Jordan has a high regard for the brands of Cape Mentelle and Cloudy Bay, and doesn’t foresee any need to implement immediate changes. He is confident that Cloudy Bay, which he says is well used to a remote style of management from Margaret River, will hardly notice the change. He intends to strengthen several other management positions within Domaine Chandon to account for his likely absence for longer periods. Jordan’s other responsibilities are at the various Domaine Chandon operations in Brazil, Argentina and California, where he is responsible for the maintenance of wine style and quality. Until the sale of the company’s Spanish operations, he was also involved in that country.
