A Vintage Summer

Charlotte McEwen is a very enterprising young woman. One of 151 third-year Commerce exchange students studying overseas in the winter of 2010, the Waterloo, ON, native decided to make the most of her Queen’s connections to research summer job opportunities in France. She consulted a list of overseas alumni sent to all Commerce students going on exchanges by the School’s alumni relations staff. These Alumni Ambassadors agreed to be contacted by any exchange students looking for advice, assistance or just a chance to connect with a fellow ex-pat with a shared Queen’s link.

Charlotte emailed the first four names on the list of alumni in and around Paris and was thrilled to hear back from each one. A series of delightful lunches or coffee breaks at Parisian cafes ensued with Ken Church, BCom’70, Dominique Roussel, MBA’87, Karim Nassar,MBA’07, and Jim Black, BCom’79. “The alumni were incredibly kind and told me all about their experiences living and working in France. I was impressed by the depth and range of their work experiences, in such areas as technical consulting, project management and HR information systems. I learned a lot and was truly grateful for their hospitality.”

The last name on her list was Daniella (Galizia) Fresne, BCom’03, whom Charlotte invited for a coffee in Paris. While she would have welcomed the chance to meet, Daniella replied, a trip to Paris from her home in Ville-Dommange, outside Reims, would be a stretch. It was a busy time at her family’s business, and her two toddlers were keeping her hopping. An email exchange ensued with Charlotte describing her quest for a summer job in France. “I know this is a long shot and a lot to ask,” she wrote, “but if you have any interest in hiring an intern this summer, please let me know.”

Daniella was definitely interested. Champagne Fresne Ducret, the family champagne winery she and her husband Pierre own and operate was in need of an extra pair of hands. The couple accepted Charlotte’s offer and the terms of the internship were swiftly negotiated. Charlotte would work for five weeks after her classes at ESSEC Business School in Paris ended and before the Fresne family left for holidays in August, as is the French custom. An outbuilding recently renovated to house a kitchen for cooking classes also featured a self-contained apartment upstairs, ideal lodging for the new hired hand. “We offered her accommodation, a modest salary and all the champagne she could drink,” Daniella jokes.

Daniella, Pierre, Charlotte and Vincent Fresne overlooking their vineyard Lunch at a sidewalk cafe in Paris was one thing; hopping a train to a village, population about 430, to stay with complete strangers was another. “I was only a little bit nervous,” Charlotte confesses. “Daniella and I had hit it off via email. But I did wonder, as I was getting off the train, what the next six weeks might bring.”

Champagne, in a word. A veritable cellar-full was to follow. Daniella picked up Charlotte at the train station and whisked her away to Ville-Dommange, located on a scenic route between hillsides covered in grapevines. Over a glass (perhaps more than one – neither can recall for sure), Daniella welcomed Charlotte to her home and introduced her family: husband Pierre, three-year-old Charlotte and 18-month-old Vincent.

The Family Business – a legacy of seven generations of champagne grape growers

A tour of the winery revealed a neat farmhouse, home to the Fresne family, the kitchen/apartment and six acres of vineyards in and around Ville-Dommange, a village dedicated to the growing of grapes for large champagne houses such as Veuve Clicquot and Bollinger, and independent wineries such as Fresne Ducret.

While they sipped champagne, the talk turned to how Daniella, a native of Oakville, ON, had landed what seemed to Charlotte to be a charmed life in France. “We shared some international exchange stories,” Daniella recalls, “and I told Charlotte about my year studying at IECS at the Université de Strasbourg in France’s Alsace region and how it had been a transformative experience. It had really broadened my outlook, and I made some lasting friendships. I’d felt comfortable living in a French environment, thanks to my French immersion schooling. So when I was about to graduate and saw a job posting at Queen’s for a position with a luxury tour operator in Burgundy, I applied. It felt like a perfect fit.”

Tom Hamilton, LLB’80, agreed. He hired Daniella to work at Hamilton Fitzjames, a specialty designer of custom travel programs operating out of Beaune, a town of 22,000 in the heart of the Burgundy region. In addition to working on the administrative side of the business, Daniella was soon costing and guiding wine and food tours for clients primarily from North America. “After graduating from Queen’s Law, Tom had been a corporate lawyer in Toronto for a brief time before pursuing his dream of a career combining his love of fine wine and travel,” Daniella explains. “That love of wine had a hand in my future, since Pierre and I met in the cellars of Tom and his wife’s friends.”

Pierre was studying viticulture in Burgundy in preparation for taking over the reins of his family’s champagne winery. His family has tended vineyards in the region for seven generations, originally selling their grapes to other champagne houses until Pierre’s grandfather and great-uncle began to produce and sell champagne made with their own grapes after World War II. Pierre’s father and a cousin succeeded them in the 1960s and grew the business to 60,000 bottles per year by the end of the 1980s, a number sustained to the present day in this heavily regulated industry.

Karen Matthey (at left, in stripes) celebrates a birthday milestone with friends

On offer: accommodation, a modest salary and all the champagne the summer intern could drink

Within a year and a half of their initial meeting, Daniella and the fluently bilingual Pierre moved to Reims, only seven kilometres from Ville-Dommange. After marrying in 2006, they moved into the family homestead in the village in 2007, where Daniella, with her Commerce degree, was responsible for administration and sales, while Pierre oversaw the nurturing of the vines and grapes, as well as the labour-intensive production of six varieties of champagne. Firstborn Charlotte arrived in June of that year, followed by Vincent in 2009, and both Daniella and Pierre found themselves with a burgeoning business, two young children, and not enough hours in the day.

Soon after her arrival in June, Charlotte watched, learned and became increasingly aware of the effort involved in producing the magic elixir that is champagne. Much of the work in the vineyards was done by hand by Pierre and a few employees. Another champagne brand had recently been acquired, and there was work to be done to maintain and grow its client list. Daniella’s cooking classes, aimed at visitors and members of regional wine clubs, were beginning to garner a following, and tours of the winery offered clients a reason to buy the Fresne Ducret product.

Charlotte pitched right in, helping Daniella in the office, researching the client list of the newly acquired brand, and reaching out to past clients. She worked on the production side as well, helping in the vineyards, packaging product, separating vines and adjusting the wires that support the grapes.

“Charlotte was incredibly competent and efficient,” Daniella says. “She’d see something that needed doing and would just go ahead and do it. She was great with clients, some of whom have been returning for over 40 years to pick up their annual champagne supply. She also helped out with the cooking classes and led customers on tours of the winery.”

Charlotte (right) and Daniella’s farewell lunch at a Michelin-starred restaurant One of the highlights of the summer was a weekend 30th birthday celebration for Daniella’s Com’03 classmate and close friend Karen Matthey (see her Alumni Note on page 42). Karen, an Executive Director with Goldman Sachs in London, brought 13 of her friends, including fellow Queen’s alums Andrew Dennison, BCom’03, and Micaela Egger,BSc’03, for the festivities in late July.

There were heartfelt goodbyes when it was time to part, with Charlotte heading out on a tour of Europe and the Fresnes off on their holiday in Canada. “Charlotte is welcome to return anytime,” says Daniella. “There will always be a glass of champagne waiting for her.”