Alexis Lichine

Alexis Lichine was a Russian wine writer and entrepreneur. He played a key role in promoting varietal labelling of wine, was a masterful salesman of wine, and owned Chteau PrieurLichine and a share of Chteau Lascombes in the Mdoc. He was married to actress Arlene Dahl from 1964 to 1969.

Lichine was born in Moscow in 1913. His family fled to France during the Russian Revolution of 1917, going on to the United States in 1919. He studied economics at the University of Pennsylvania but dropped out because he felt he wasnt learning anything. In 1932 Lichine moved back to Paris and accepted a sales position with The New York Herald Tribune. In 1933 he continued in sales for The New York Herald Tribune in Algiers, and in 1934 moved back to New York as Prohibition ended. He attempted to start his own import wine company but failed, and in 1935 worked for the Cork and Bottle retail store in New York, and became a US citizen. He then went to work for Saccone and Speed, a New York wine importer, and in 1938 he was hired by wine merchant Frank Schoonmaker as his national sales manager.

Source: Wikipedia