17.01.2012 - Berland leaves Mouton, by Jane Anson in Bordeaux and Adam Lechmere for Decanter

Hervé Berland, managing director of Château Mouton Rothschild, has announced his retirement after 30 years at the chateau.

Berland, 62, will be leaving at the end of March 2012, an email to staff at Domaines Baron Philippe de Rothschild (DBPR) said last month.

After studying in Paris and Toulouse, Berland joined the Rothschilds in 1977, at first running sales and communications for the UK market.

He joined the board of Mouton in 2004 as managing director, working alongside estate director Philippe Dhalluin and technical director Eric Tourbier.

Together these three run Mouton Rothschild and Baroness Philippine de Rothschild’s two other Pauillac estates, Château d’Armailhac and Château Clerc Milon.

Berland also has an advisory role for Opus One in California – jointly owned by DBPR and Constellation – and ensures the smooth running of the chateaux side of DBPR operations, with its 600 employees worldwide, and estates in California, Chile and the Languedoc, besides those in Bordeaux.

Berland recently told Decanter.com, ‘It is a privilege to work for these estates. Not only because of their beauty and their heritage, but because of what they bring out in all of us who work with them.’

He will be replaced by Hervé Gouin, currently working at Rothschild France Distribution, who joins Mouton as commercial director.