Testimonials

She was a complete one-off. Both my husband Nick Lander and I wrote profiles of her at some stage. My strongest memory of her is at an International Pinot Noir Celebration in McMinnville – way back. We shared a table at the salmon bake and she was incredibly generous with her Henri Jayers. We were staying at the same B&B and the three of us walked back through woods in the darkness, she with her pullalong that had been full of bottles. Such good company. We bumped into her in Sydney once, in the same restaurant, where she looked every bit as glamorous as ever. Great that she had a second career as a movie star! What wonderful sense she made of wine and life.

I wish I knew Martine better but will always be inspired by her and appreciative of her support over the years. When I helped open Left Bank Brasserie in Menlo Park in 1997 I began a long relationship of buying wine from Martine & her team & relied on their expertise. In 2011 when I opened San Francisco Wine School, Martine was a strong supporter, sending around a dozen reps & other employees through French Wine Scholar with us. She provided many wines on trade & even delivered them to my home in our early days. She was a special guest speaker at our 2019 Champagne event doing extensive Q& A with our students before & after our viewing of her movie A Year in Champagne. Her vision, passion, wines, & support of my early days & beyond is something I will never forget. The wine industry & all who knew her will miss her greatly.

I have known Martine for over 40 years and Was honored when she asked me to decorate her with « The French Medal of Legion of Honor » which was bestowed upon her by the French government for her lifetime achievements of Introducing French wines to the US. She was an Icon and will always be a legend who we will all remember for her love , knowledge, wisdom ,graciousness and much more in our lives. I am sorry I cannot be there at her life celebration in person . My last few words with her as I was saying my goodbye ,was to remind her not to forget to take her IPhone with her when she left this world « just in case she wanted to call in » I am sure she is listening in today. So MARTINE , thank you for being in our lives and especially in mine. Vive La Reine de Bourgogne 💐💐

Every memory I have of being with Martine, includes her beautiful smile, upbeat attitude, high energy,,wicked sense of humor, and her remarkable inner strength. She accomplished so much in her life. When she semi retired, I recall how excited she was getting involved in the production of A Year in Burgundy and A Year in Champagne – and it was fun to share in her excitement at the premieres. I believe Martine was capable of, and could succeed, at anything, but for the world of wine, I am thankful she chose our industry which she helped improve and transform. Petite in stature, she had a huge presence. She is greatly missed.

I was introduced to Martine by Jim Nassikas of The Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco who sent Martine to stay with me at The Mark Hotel New York (1987-2003) and we became fast friends as we both served on the AIWF National Board together and we both were members of the Chevalier du Tastevin….we always sat together at these events and Martine was very fond of F&B Manager Jean-Luc Deguines and Master Sommelier Richard Dean of The Mark Hotel and we will forever be grateful to her kindness to us and for introducing all her friends and wine associates to adopt The Mark Hotel as their New York headquarters because of Martine’s recommendation. She was elegant, acerbic always and a great sense of humor. My wife is French and so I always did well by Martine but we will always remember her friendship, her fabulous spirit wit and may she Rest in Eternal Peace. Our condolences to her family with Love Hugs Aloha. Raymond Bickson.

In 1951 I was at Edinburgh University. I came home in the holidays to Berkhamsted in Hertfordshire England. I had a holiday job, but my spare time was given over to tennis, playing whenever I could at the local club. It was not long before I discovered a French girl, newly arrived from France, to stay with a local family, to improve her English by being at a big local international firm, for conversation and translations. Martine was 17, I was 18, and we just clicked. From her year in England she branched out into the world, knocking down barriers right, left and centre as she became a force to be reckoned with| We kept in touch while working in different fields. I got married to George, and Martine was my chief bridesmaid. She was godmother to my daughter Lorna, and in due course very generous with French-style gifts for my grand-daughter Mir, now 18. Wilderness Rivers and White water rafting became our meeting point, the wilder the better. The Rockies were a big attraction and on Martine’s doorstep once she settled in California. The south fork of the Flathead River started us off. Up to the Arctic for the migration of the caribou on the Tatshenshini River. Down to south America and the Andes for the Tambopata tributary of the Amazon. The top was the Grand Canyon, 170 rapids through over 200 miles of off-the-chart spectacular wilderness. Always wine, cooling in the waters by the boat No sophisticated career girl here. Just Martine through and through, at one with Nature, giving all her enthusiastic attention to the moment, and loving the total experiences we shared together. Her last letter in February tells of how blessed she is feeling with the incredible love around her from the cooks, cleaners, shoppers, drivers, everyone. Love you forever, my dearest Martine.

In One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote: “We are borne to die and to live in the memory of others”. Martine’s amazing accomplishments will be engraved in the wine history books, but just like museums, books are inanimate hosts which honor but are incapable of perpetuating life as Marquez meant it. Only the living left behind can. Martine’s elegance and impeccable understated taste, the quality of her personal space so eminently European throughout her long life, her friendship and generosity, her embraces, her disarming bravado, her voice, her smile, will continue to live in the memories of the people who loved and enjoyed her. And while most people leave behind very few, if any, in which their lives may continue, Martine will keep on living in dozens of them. She will live in all those who open a bottle of wine and wonder: What would Martine think of that? After countless shared bottles, after hundreds of glasses raised to the pantheon of perfection or discharged in disgust, she has taught us enough to figure out her answer.