28-year-old, Caroline Frey, daughter of Swiss billionaire financier Jean-Jacques Frey, is the new winemaker of Chateau La Lagune. When her father bought Chateau La Lagune and put Caroline in charge, she was studying oenology at Bordeaux University and subsequently qualified at the top of her class.

At the age of 26, she was one of the youngest winemakers - male or female - to take over a classed growth in Bordeaux. ''I wanted to travel when I left college. I wanted to do a vintage in Napa or Chile or Australia, take a bit of time out and see what the rest of the wine world was up to.'' But we had just purchased La Lagune and we were remodeling the Chateau, from the vineyard to the tank rooms and the Chateau buildings themselves. So I had to stay and join in immediately.''

At university, Frey worked under Denis Dubourdieu, a highly regarded wine consultant and professor of oenology. He is also the wine consultant to Chateau La Lagune. ''I do not think there is anything particularly female or feminine about what I or other female oenologists do. It is all about being careful and meticulous''.

Today, the transformation of Chateau La Lagune is almost complete. Many millions have been invested at the Chateau, its winemaking facilities and vineyards. The vat room has glistening stainless steel pipes run in arcs across a hangar-sized room filled with 20-foot high stainless steel vats. This means the sorted grapes can flow through pipes, almost oxygen-free, into the vat. They are spared the damage that is often caused to grapes in harsh pumps.

Under the Caroline tenure of Chateau La Lagune, the demand for its wine has shot through the roof as quickly as the quality has skyrocketed. ''I think the 2003 will be drinking well in a year or two,'' says Frey, in what may be an underestimate. The 2003 is already a stunningly weighty delight with little evidence of the harsh tannins of yesteryear at La Lagune that needed a decade to mellow.