Martine Saunier, who brought the wines of Burgundy’s Henri Jayer and Domaine Leroy and Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s Château Rayas to America as a trailblazing importer, died Feb. 9 from lung cancer. She was 91.
Saunier had an exceptional palate for wine, a clear vision and a fierce determination to follow her own path. For more than 30 years, she imported some of the best estates from Burgundy, Rhône, Champagne and Portugal. She was an inspiration to many in the wine industry, particularly women.
She was born in Paris in 1934, spending summers in the Mâconnais, the southernmost region of Burgundy, where her aunt had vineyards. It was there her appreciation for wine began. As a child, she never missed a harvest and followed the winemaker around the cellar. After studying business in Paris, she took a job in public relations with Japan Airlines at their Paris offices.
A Move to America and The Wine Business
After meeting her future husband, a doctor from San Francisco, she moved to the West Coast of the United States in 1964. Wine tastings of Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon led her to Beaulieu Vineyard and winemaker André Tchelistcheff, who told Saunier she needed to go back to France if she was interested in Pinot Noir.
After getting a job with a Bay Area wine importer, Saunier made her debut buying trip to France in 1969, touring the wine regions in a Volkswagen. She began selling wines from Burgundy and the Rhône Valley to a mailing list of doctors and lawyers back in the U.S.
It was on that trip that she encountered a white wine from Château de Fonsalette at a bistro in Sénas. Impressed, she located the property and met vigneron Jacques Reynaud of Fonsalette and Château Rayas. He poured her his Châteauneuf-du-Pape 1959. “It was an explosion of greatness, “ she told Wine Spectator in an interview last year. “Then he came back with the 1961 and it was even better.” She bought 50 cases.
By the mid-1970s, to increase her business, Saunier entered the distribution side and quickly gained accounts at the best retailers and restaurants from Los Angeles to Reno, Nev. In 1977, she singlehandedly sold $400,000 of wine, primarily to French restaurants. She took a second mortgage on her house and with $80,000 founded Martine’s Wines in 1979. “I was sure, absolutely convinced, I could create a market for really great, top-quality estate-bottled French wine,” she told Wine Spectator in a 2020 interview.
A Business Built on Wine and Trust
She met Henri Jayer when one of her suppliers, Henri Pillot, brought Jayer to Saunier’s house on a trip to California. On a visit to Jayer’s cellar in 1974, she saw cases of 1972 piled up. When Jayer said his British importer cancelled its order, Martine bought it and began selling Jayer in the U.S. By the time she started Martine’s Wines, she was selling the 1978s, a legendary vintage for Jayer.
Saunier’s relationship with an equally formidable woman in wine, Lalou Bize-Leroy, began in 1986. Martine’s Wines became the importer for Maison Leroy and, after its founding in 1988, Domaine Leroy. "The death of Martine has deeply affected us," Bize-Leroy told Wine Spectator. "It is a lifetime of the most friendly and deep relationships that are dying. Her memory will continue to enlighten us and encourage us to continue as best we can the work she undertook for us in California."
In 2009, Saunier was contacted by documentary film producer David Kennard. He had worked with both the BBC and Hollywood and was interested in making a film about four wine importers who impacted the U.S. market.
The next year, he reached out again. This time, he wanted to focus only on Burgundy and Saunier’s business. “A Year in Burgundy” was released in 2013, following seven of Saunier’s family producers through the seasons of viticulture and winemaking in the region. It was followed by “A Year in Champagne” in 2014 and “A Year in Port” in 2016. Saunier sold Martine’s Wines in December 2012, with two of the films in the bank and the third on the way.
Saunier is survived by her stepsons Jeffrey Cregg and Huey Lewis.
Stay on top of important wine stories with Wine Spectators free Breaking News Alerts.
