LE PAN, a new international wine lifestyle magazine and website, will present its highly anticipated inaugural issue at Vinexpo 2015 in Bordeaux, France.To be launched on June 15, 2015 when it will hit bookstores in Asia, and on-shelf internationally by the end of the month, LE PAN is set to become the leading voice in the world of fine wine, as the only consumer wine magazine to have six Masters of Wine on staff. Its experts will cover all the major wine regions and review a vast array of fine wines including rare vintages not available to other publications. LE PAN will launch through events in Paris, Bordeaux, London and Geneva in June and in the United States and China in the fall.
Meet the LE PAN team, including four Masters of Wine, during Vinexpo from June 14–18 in Hall 1 at booth AB329. Daily master classes will be held by the editors, including newly joined Deputy Editor (Wine) Rebecca Gibb, an award-winning wine writer who was previously responsible for the editorial content on Wine-Searcher. Highlights of a lively program include a vertical tasting of Cheval Blanc, a Krug portfolio tasting, a discovery of Oregon’s Pinot Noir, an introduction to Sherry and a horizontal tasting of 2005 Riesling Auslese.
Inaugural Issue
A large-format glossy magazine with more than 200 pages of content, LE PAN raises the bar in publishing, giving wine collectors a broader perspective on their passions in life, whether it is food, art, fashion, design, collecting cars or watches, or adventurous travel — all the accoutrements of modern-day fine living.
The caliber of interviews reflects this sentiment. Renowned Japanese chef Nobu Matsuhisa is the celebrity guest of the inaugural LP Lunch, in which LE PAN pairs Cantonese dishes to his selection of fine wines. Acclaimed London-based designer Ron Arad talks creativity, curiosity and conviction, while Jean-Claude Biver, who runs the watch division at the world’s biggest luxury conglomerate LVMH, discusses the future of the watch industry. LE PAN also presents a stunning photo essay that equates the best of fine wines to the feel of luxury fabrics. Uniquely, LE PAN has a detachable 32-page booklet, the LP GUIDE, which will review and rate more than 270 wines each issue, providing a valuable source of information for buyers and collectors.
“After nearly two years of incubation, LE PAN has finally been born,” says LE PAN publisher and CEO Jeannie Cho Lee MW, the first Asian Master of Wine. “I am incredibly proud to present LE PAN at Vinexpo, the pinnacle of events for the fine wine industry. An extremely talented, dedicated and passionate team has created what we believe is the world’s finest wine and lifestyle magazine. The voice of LE PAN is international, educated, sophisticated and assured. Each issue will curate the world’s greatest wines, rare experiences and sumptuous wares into a monthly reference on ‘The Art of Fine Wine Living’.”
The magazine will be published in two editions, English and Chinese. The Chinese edition mirrors the international magazine, but with additional, unique content that will bring unprecedented depth to wine and lifestyle reporting in Greater China. The international edition will be available in 35 cities worldwide, with initial distribution in the United States (including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles) and the key capitals of Europe and Asia Pacific (London, Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and Melbourne). It will be available from major bookstores and selected newsstands, in business and first class airport lounges, and at hotels and wine stores.
The Bordeaux Special
Every issue will focus in-depth on a wine region, and the inaugural edition brings 48 pages of the best of Bordeaux. The Bordeaux Special will also reacquaint wine lovers with one of the world’s best-known regions: its stories, the personalities, the splendid terroir vintages, but also the controversies — asking the question ‘Is it Over for Bordeaux?’.
The Website
In addition to the print version, LEPANMEDIA.com will be an immediate digital force. The website will be the first to offer a completely bilingual wine database with ratings and reviews of more than 12,000 fine wines. Weekly tastings will be conducted by experts dedicated to uncovering the rising stars of each region.
The website, in English and Chinese, also offers food-and-wine pairing, trends stories and additional lifestyle features to those found in the magazine. It will showcase exclusive travel guides, spectacular photo essays and opinion pieces from our Masters of Wine as well as other key influencers, and is available on all digital platforms — desktop, mobile and tablet. The site will also present breaking news in the world of fine wine, with reporters in China, the US and Europe. The LP GUIDE app, soon to be available on Android and iOS platforms, provides access to our database of fine wine reviews.
