France

Lele Ma

Lele works in the Oenotourisme and Wine Export sectors, based in Saumur, France. Lele’s journey in wine began as it does for many of us: through tasting something which leaves us spellbound. In Lele’s case, this occurred after she moved from China to France in 2015 “to find out [her] purpose in life”, when she tried a 2005 Chambertin Clos-de-Bèze. In that moment, Lele “found all the elements that she was looking for… history, culture, terroir, humanity, art of living, emotion”. Having completed a Masters in Management Culture before her move to France, Lele decided to put her skills and competencies to work in the wine sector, joining a Domaine in the Loire Valley and developing both their oenotourisme offering and the export side of their business over the past 5 years, to tremendous commercial success. Since entering the wine industry, Lele has completed her WSET Certification all the way to Diploma, and is now preparing herself to undertake the MW. Having seen the power which wine has to connect people, Lele now wishes to spread wine culture further around the globe, through education and an e-platform, using it as a medium to “building bridges between Europe, Asia and Africa”. To that end, Lele has been in contact with the Africa Wine Academy (a grantee of the Gérard Basset Foundation since 2021), and in collaboration with them will seek to bring her wine educational content (which will comprise an accessible mixture of “blogs, videos, podcasts, on-line and off-line clubs, wine selections, live experiences of food pairing”) to students in West Africa.