Pictured above: Fabrice Bernard, CEO of Millésima

Hopping onto the career ladder at Nissan Finance, Fabrice worked his way up to manage the marketing department there before following in his father's footsteps to join Millésima in 2007 (his father, Patrick Bernard, founded the company in 1983).

Read on to discover which two bottles of champagne the CEO of Millésima still remembers 25 years on, and why he chose Winston Churchill as the person who he'd most like to share a glass with.

Wine Lister: Tell us about your current "house wine".

Fabrice Bernard: It changes all the time. We drink a lot of Bordeaux because we live in Bordeaux. But we also love to drink wines from Burgundy, Italy, and Greece (more specifically Alpha Estate). I love Penfolds Grange as well as some of their other cuvées, I love Chilean and Argentinian Malbec, wines from the Languedoc, white wines from the Loire. I also drink a lot of wine from Ribera del Duero and Galicia - essentially, I drink wine from all over the world.

WL: What do you drink when you're not drinking wine?

FB: I prefer to drink water at lunch because when I open a bottle of wine, I can't stop. I love to finish the bottle - I would rather not drink at all than just have one glass! Otherwise, I drink cocktails. I love Irish coffee - I made some last night for my wife - and I love to try things I haven't tried before. My most recent discovery was a lemon and mint spirit from Cabanel (a shop and manufacturer near Carcassonne) over ice.

WL: What does "fine wine" mean to you?

FB: For me, fine wine is something that elicits emotion, something that you can remember for a long time. I remember two bottles of champagne that I tasted in 1999 - it was Veuve Cliquot's La Grande Dame 1990 and Krug 1988. I could still tell you exactly what they were like.

WL: The best restaurant wine list in Bordeaux?

FB: For the best and biggest range of wines, I would say Le Bistro du Sommelier - but that's more just for the wine. For a good dinner, complemented by a good wine list, there are two options: Les Belles Perdrix at Troplong Mondot and Le Gabriel on Place de la Bourse. Bertrand Noeureuil, former executive chef at Plénitude in Paris, is the new chef at Le Gabriel as of earlier this year. The food is fantastic and the wine list is very good. At the moment, it only has one Michelin star, but I reckon it will be awarded more very soon.

WL: What emerging region are you most excited about?

FB: Galicia (I really love Albariño) and Greece. I've already mentioned Alpha Estate in the north of Greece, but the white wines of Santorini are also great. These are two regions that aren't yet famous, but the quality is definitely there.

WL: What is your standing on natural wine?

FB: I am very interested in natural wine, but I am yet to try one that I have really liked. Some natural wines are good when they are young but, after two or three years, they all seem to taste more or less the same! There is no emotion. But maybe I just haven't tried a really good one yet!

WL: Your go-to wine shop in Bordeaux?

FB: La Maison Gabin on Cours Portal. He stocks fabulous old vintages of Syrah and other bottles from from around the world - Bordeaux too, but not only Bordeaux.

WL: If you could share a glass of wine with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and what would you drink?

FB: It would be Sir Winston Churchill. He loved food, he loved wine, and he loved life - he was an Epicurean. I think we would have a good conversation because he had great wit. I would open a bottle of Lafite 2010. I wouldn't want to open an old bottle with him, but a recent one, from a good vintage. I would ask him about the differences between Lafite 1945 (or the 1947) when they were young and the 2010. I think that would be fascinating!

WL: If you weren't working in wine, what would you be doing?

FB: If I wasn't working in wine, there would only be two options for me: the first would be to make money in marketing. You can work in marketing across lots of different industries - you have to catch the attention of the consumer, be creative, and constantly on the ball. This is what I love to do at Millésima and I think I could transfer my skills across to another industry if I needed to. Otherwise, I would open a restaurant and cook. I love to cook everything - for my son and daughter's birthdays, I make them whatever they want. Sometimes they ask for some difficult desserts, but I always give it a go!

WL: To finish, can you share with our readers one producer to watch?

FB: For me, it has to be Loire producer, Ivan Massonnat. He didn't start out in the wine business, but he loves wine and he makes the wine that he loves. I think Guillaume Pouthier at Les Carmes Haut-Brion has the same approach. Belargus is not as famous yet, but it will be. Ivan makes the kind of wines I love to drink.