Wine Advisory Board 

Michael Wigley, Chairman - Mr. Wigley developed his fine wine avocation over the past 25 years. Since 2000, Mr. Wigley has traveled annually to Bordeaux to taste, sample, grade, and review the new vintage of Bordeaux wine. To date he has spent approximately $1 million on his collection, consumed a portion, and has a cellar of 18,000 bottles currently valued in excess of $5 million.


Vincent Cheung - Mr. Cheung graduated from University College London in 1965 with a law degree and qualified as a solicitor in England in 1969. He returned to Hong Kong in 1971 where he has continued to practice as a solicitor for the last 38 years. In 1990, Vincent was one of the founding partners of Vincent T. K. Cheung, Yap & Co. which currently has 11 partners, 25 fee earners and a total staff of over 80. He is a member of the Hong Kong Society of Notaries, a non-executive director of two companies listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and a member of the German Swiss International School Foundation. Vincent has had a life long passion for wine and is a frequent visitor to Bordeaux. He became the Maitre of the Commanderie de Bordeaux, Hong Kong chapter in 1997, Grand Maitre of China and Hong Kong in 2006 and since 2008 has been the Grand Maitre of Asia for the Commanderie de Bordeaux. For his services to French wine and agriculture, he was awarded the Commandeur de l’Ordre du Mérite Agricole in 2006. Vincent has a significant collection of Bordeaux wine which his family takes great pleasure in! He is married to Christine and has four children, Alexander, Nicholas, Stephanie and Natalie, and three grandchildren who he hopes will continue the tradition of appreciating fine wine.

John Pagnucco - Mr. Pagnucco is an investment banker who has had a love affair with Bordeaux wine since 1963 and in 1967 started collecting Bordeaux wine. He is a graduate of the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University. He is a board member and Grand Regent (#2) of the Commanderie de Bordeaux aux Etats-Unis d’Amerique. He travels frequently to Bordeaux. His golf game needs work.


Brad England - Mr. England is a real estate investor, a retired investment banker, a noted wine collector, and importantly, an avid wine consumer. He firmly believes that it’s difficult to have an educated opinion on a wine you haven’t tasted multiple times. His career as an investment banker spanned the globe, and while his colleagues frequently entertained clients on the golf course, Mr. England’s preferred form of entertainment revolved around fine wine. His personal wine collection exceeds 7,000 bottles and is heavily dominated by wines from the most desirable vintages of the major French wine regions of Burgundy, Bordeaux, the Northern Rhone, and Champagne. He is well known to the wine trade and has strong personal relationships with many of the largest collectors in the United States.

David Lietz - Mr. Lietz is an attorney in Washington DC. David’s appreciation for wine began with an education in the restaurant industry over 20 years ago, and has since blossomed into a personal collection of approximately 1500 bottles of the finest wines from around the world. David is well versed in the market for collectible wines and has developed a keen sense for finding up and coming quality wines with a high appreciation potential.


Eric Vogt - Mr. Vogt is an entrepreneur and former member of the Harvard Business School faculty, where he taught international economics. From 1990 to 2004 Eric served as the cellar master of the Boston Commanderie de Bordeaux. Between the Commanderie’s cellar and his own, Eric has analyzed and purchased over 1,000 cases of Bordeaux. Eric travels to Bordeaux several times a year. He holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard in Applied Mathematics, and has finally found a practical use for his education, developing purchasing strategies for fine Bordeaux wine.

Nicholas Blaiset - Mr. Blaiset is a Negociant located in St.-Emilion, France in Bordeaux. Born into a wine family, he worked for the family wine cellar in Rouen. He holds a BTS Technico-Commercial in Wines and Spirits. Today, he manages one of the biggest wine cellar of St.-Emilion. He was a founder of the Wine School of St.-Emilion (www.vignobleschateaux.fr). In 2003, Mr. Blaiset founded Tant qu'il y aura des vins, a negociant company. Currently he represents 33 wines En Primeur.

Commanderie de Bordeaux

Mr. Wigley, Mr. Pagnucco and Mr. Vogt are members of the Commanderie de Bordeaux. The Commanderie de Bordeaux aux États-Unis d'Amérique was organized in 1957 by a small group of lovers of Bordeaux wine and became a New York corporation in 1959. Since, it has grown to include 29 chapters and some 1100 members located in different cities around the U.S.It is also affiliated with a worldwide network of 65 Commanderies in 19 countries under the overall patronage of the Bordeaux-based Grand Conseil du Vin de Bordeaux; www.grandconseilvinsbordeaux.com. The members ("Commandeurs") of these chapters get together periodically for dinners (called "parlements" from the French verb parler, to talk) and other events in order to enjoy, discuss and learn more about the wines of the various Bordeaux regions in their different vintages. Through their passion for these wines, the Commandeurs become emissaries of the Bordeaux winemakers to their several localities.

At present, Mr. Pagnucco is Grand Regent and Maitre of the Minneapolis Chapter, Mr. Vogt is a Board Member and Maitre of the Boston Chapter, and Mr. Wigley is the Caviste (Cellar Master) of the Minneapolis Chapter.

Chateau Margaux