Wine legs

Dear members, dear all

As you all know, Carole Granade has left for France and I have been appointed new Director of the FAACSF. I will do my best to focus on and develop the FACCSF missions : fostering the relationships between the French and American business communities, helping the newcomers to the Bay Area and answering your business and networking needs as well as possible. I would be very happy to hear about your experience with the Chamber, your expectations and wishes, in order to make sure we work in line with the French business community.

I hope to have the pleasure to meet and work closely with you very soon. In the meantime, do not hesitate to contact us, and participate to the events that are coming up.

Brynhild Dumas

THEY NEED YOUR SUPPORT!!

The Association « The French Will Never Forget » (TFWNF) was created in 2003 in reaction to the anti French sentiments which prevailed in a large portion of the American population, following the diverging analysis of France on the situation in Iraq and her ensuing refusal to commit troops to operation “Desert Storm”. A standard cliché regularly returning in several American media, and hammered by various pundits and

political figures was that France did not remember what the United States had done for her during the First and the Second World War , and was just ungrateful. Read more about the Association “The French Will Never Forget”

The 2011 Memorial Project : The key idea is to erect, on September 11 2011, a scaled reproduction of both World Trade Center Towers, in front of the Palais de Chaillot esplanade. These will be built by erecting scaffolding which will be covered on each of the four sides by a white tarpaulin. Each of the towers will measure approximately 30 meters in height (or the equivalent of a 10-story building) and will be 4 meters wide. The technical aspects of the project have been validated by the firm OGER INTERNATIONAL, and the LAYHER Company will be tasked with the actual construction of these scaffolding. These two companies are world-renowned in their respective field. Click here for a detailled explaination of the operation.

For more information or to make a donation contact Paul Bensabat or click here.

PowerPoint Presentation explaining the event, and sponsorship information

From November 8 to 12, the French-Californian company RealChange will conduct its fall Learning Expedition:

Innovation/Digital/Green to boost your company. RealChange offers five days to:

- Accelerate your company’s capacity for innovation and gain an understanding of why Innovation, Digital, and Green are the keys to the success of the best companies in Silicon Valley.Identify the most innovative practices to differentiate yourself from your competitors and trully integrate social medias.

- Create a new vision of the sustainable success of your company.

For more information, please check the program here or contact Christian Forthomme at christian@realchange.com or Maryline Daviaud Lewett at maryline@realchange.com

LIGNE ROSET SAN FRANCISCO

will be hosting an event with paintings by MICAH CRANDALL-BEAR

The opening reception will be from 6PM to 8PM on Thursday, August 11th

Show ends on October 30th!

More Info

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The Basque Cultural Center was at its best Saturday evening the 9th of July for the “Bal Populaire” célébration of ” Bastille Day". About 180 people, mostly French, were in attendance for the dinner and dance to the music of Ron Borelli.

The President of the “Comité Officiel” reminded everyone of the spirit of the 1789 revolution: “Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité “. The Consul General’s address followed, then a presentation from the representative of the Mayor of San Francisco, after which dinner was served. The menu was as follows:

-Potage a la Parisienne (leek and potato soup)

-Coquilles St. Jacques a la Basquaise (scallops - this is absolutely delicious; if you go for dinner, it is a must)

-Filet mignon ou poulet rôti (most chose the filet, others the chicken and we had 3 vegetarians). -The meat was cook to order, the assortment of fresh vegetables was excellent and so were the “frites"!

-Salade et fromages.

-Baba au Rhum de la Martinique.For wines we enjoyed the following:

-Macon Lugny les Genevrieres” 2009 which comes from a special designated vineyard. The very high quality ressembles more a Chassagne Montrachet than the average white burgundy. It went very well with the scallops.

-Pinot Noir “Louis Latour” 2008. This select burgundy went very well with the beef. Not too heavy but enough tannin to please the palate.

Then we had café arrosé, with either Cognac or Anisette.During the dinner, the accordion player went around the tables, serenading attendees. The opening of the ball started with a traditional waltz, followed by the tango, Paso dobles, rock and roll and more. A large group of young people between 30 and 40 closed the place.

It was a beautiful evening with love and harmony.

Happy Bastille Day to all!!!Basque Cultural Center

599 Railroad Avenue

South San Francisco, CA 94080

(650) 583-8091

Directions

Are We Approaching 1998 Levels?

The continued demand for office space Citywide is driving rents upward while vacancy is decreasing. The first $50 per square foot South of Market lease has been inked. What this means is that owners throughout the region and beyond will continue to raise their rents if they haven’t already.

Tenants touring South of Market who are unaware of current market conditions will now be faced with sticker-shock. SOMA tenants will now either “pony-up” or be touring elsewhere. This past quarter, my tenants were more active Downtown and in the Mission as inventory and rents here are more tenant-friendly. Currently, one tenant has taken the plunge and is currently in escrow for their own property, stepping-off the real estate merry-go-round and becoming their own landlord. I see this trend continuing as inventory from the previous five years is still coming online, making this an ideal time to become an investor or owner-user (…).

My Predictions For The Second Half 2011?

Despite the positive news above, we still have factors holding-down the market such as unemployment, the domestic economy, and global economic issues. We still have citywide vacancy over 13%. The unresolved domestic debt ceiling issues could impact the economy negatively, affecting the commercial real estate markets. Rents will continue to rise, vacancy will drop even lower in the single-digits in some submarkets, and investment activity will remain strong (…).

For the full article, click here.

An interesting discussion about Spain in Silicon Valley: how to make it (at L’Atelier-BNP PARIBAS GROUP on July 13th )

The event of our European colleagues was following a 3 steps format:

1.  6:30 - 6:40 Welcome and introductory remarks by Consul D.Jorge Montealegre:

He talked briefly about his role working for the Spanish Consulate, helping with immigration, employment and Visa issues and getting involved in projects such as the High Speed Rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles. This was an opportunity for him to explain to the audience that Spain could provide a highly qualified labor force that could contribute greatly to High Tech industries around the Bay Area (effectively providing a ‘Brain Drain’); especially in the light of the recent financial and economic crisis that has plighted Spain and Europe in recent times. He also briefly explained the role of the California–Spain Chamber of Commerce in the Bay Area (similar to the FACCSF’s role).

2. 6:40 – 7:30: 1st Panel Debate:

Maria Reig, Director at IVEX California, is helping new small and medium sized ‘start-up companies’ to set up in and around the Bay Area and LA (for the most part). She provides membership and Agendas for her clients and she is the main point of contact at IVEX California.

Gemma Galvan from PromoMadrid focused on assisting companies specialized in Digital Media and Biotech. Her work is specialized in Marketing research, business travel and Agendas.

Santiago Corredoira, Responsible at SpainTech Center provides support to recent start-ups, coming from Barcelona, implanted in the Bay Area and Silicon Valley. He also specializes in Business Development: depending on the level of needs of each start-up, he will provide different services. In addition, he provides a list of distributors/companies who have already settled in the Bay Area to help the new start-ups get contacts.

Steephen Ozoigbo, from Accio 10 (San Jose) worked in Exporting and Distributions. His company was in principle a consultancy/marketing firm. He did not provide Agendas or free legal advices but he is helping and supporting his clients. On the other hand, he could provide initial Visas, information and basic business services.

The principle message that came out of this first Panel Debate was that there existed key differences with how businesses work in the US compared with Spain.

3. 7:40-8:30: 2nd Panel Debate (Sponsors):

The panelists answered general questions from the audience on such topics as ‘entrepreneurship’, ‘investment and venture capitalists’, ‘risk’, ‘the Tech world’ and general ‘networking’. Each speaker commented on his personal experience of setting up a business in the Silicon Valley and the Bay Area and becoming a success. The principle message to come out of this discussion was that the ‘American way’ differed immensely from the ‘Spanish way’. This meant that in the US, you could propose ideas and if that idea didn’t come to fruition, all you had to do was to get up and try again until you achieve success.The panelists all agreed that the Silicon Valley was an ideal place for entrepreneurship provided you were willing to learn quickly and to not shy away from new ideas and being creative. They also conquered that if being part of a bigger company (such as HP) is more suited to you, then the Silicon Valley also provides this opportunity. But they also said that a Master’s degree is not sufficient in becoming a success: only a small amount of ultra-bright recent graduates make it to the top of larger firms.

The panelists also stated that only the results (in terms of revenue and innovation) count in an American company at the end of the day, regardless of how a business achieves them.

Finally, they key statement was that a start-up or young entrepreneur should “have a clear mindset, and ask him/herself what they really want to achieve.” You have to be “flexible, innovative, adaptive, agile and be able to ‘pivot’” in order to succeed. This is the case if you are working for companies such as PayPal (which started off as a Palm Pilot app), Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and Twitter.

All in all, this event proved to be especially interesting, and demonstrated to us how another Chamber acts in similar but also different ways in and around the Bay Area and the Silicon Valley.

Thursday, June the 30th was the launching of our new series : the AOC Meetings hosted by our great member Saverglass Inc. For our first event we were glad to welcome Jean-Noel Fourmeaux du Sartel from Chateau Potelle as our guest speaker, and J-P Giovanni (President & CEO of Saverglass Inc, also a new Board Member of the FACCSF) as the interviewer.

First contact with America; the French Government “spy”…

A while ago, during the American Wine revolution in the 80s, the French government decided to send Jean-Noel Fourmeaux as an official investigator and taster of Californian Wines. His mission was to “spy” on American winemaking and vineyard management and report to the French government. After 6 months and more than 2,000 wine tastings, he reported back: “wine is great; we decided to stay”. He went back to France to pack his belongings and moved with his family to America. Touched by the beauty of the Valley, Jean-Noel was particularly intrigued by the opportunities of innovation that California offered to winemakers when compared to the “old world’ restrictive rules.Also taking place was a revolution in American Cuisine. With more finesse and a delicate touch, new American Chefs wanted to make something fresh and creative. Good wines were bound to be part of it.

1st steps…Mount Veeder.

Established on the Mount Veeder, Chateau Potelle started its production with three French wines: Cabernet, Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay.  Interestingly, they found their worldwide celebrity with a typical Californian red wine: the Zinfandel variety. It was the good place to be for temperature control. In fact the Napa Valley is well known for its peak of heat during the summer and its refreshing night fog, providing an ideal climate for the grape growth.

Chateau Potelle’s vision has been and remains “to produce wines with style and character that are representative of their birth place”.

Chateau Potelle turns a corner with VGS…

After years of expansion and successful vintages, Chateau Potelle sold the property on Mount Veeder to its neighbor, the Jackson Family Wines. Why? “After 30 years […] we needed a facelift” said Mr. Fourmeaux. Now VGS, the rebranded premium name of Chateau Potelle, is keeping the creative and ‘avant-garde’ approach that led to their high-standing reputation. And who is to guess that the meaning of “VGS” is coming straight from the words of an esteemed customer who commented upon tasting some of the wines that “this is Very Good Sh… !”

Who is Jean Noel in life?

Ambitious and adventurous in business, Jean-Noel has been active all his life. But after 3 cancers, things are not the same. So he decided to put his business life on hold for two years in order to recover from these diseases and to re-connect with himself. He went to India during 5 months to “find himself back”.  He walked 2,000 miles from the South of the country to the North and then climbed the Annapurna Mountain with his nephew. He is a person who thrives on new challenges!! For him this experience was really fascinating, every day he overstepped his limits and gave his best. What he really gained from this journey is: when you dedicate yourself to something (more than you usually have to), the return on this time investment can be for you and not only for a third party.

Jean Noel personal experiences

What does he think about French and American?

For Jean-Noel, the two cultures have similarities. For example they are both nationalist, “chauvinist”, independent. “French think they know everything and American think they are way better than they really are”. Humility is not a much practiced trait in either camps.

On another hand, France and America are complementary. American people have an exceptional quality: they know how to process. Ideas, work, products, anything follow a rigorous organization. France can be proud of her creative people. Lots of ideas are growing in their brains. This is why French and American have a lot to learn from each other, organization on one side, and creativity on the other.

French and American, similarities and complementarities

Again and Again, thanks to all the attendees of this event.

Thank you to our host and partner Saverglass

Thank you to H&A for the sponsorship of the event.

A delightful buffet following the presentation, was orchestrated by La Bonne Cuisine Catering. We had the chance to test their delicious dishes, supplemented by a goat cheese panel from Laura Chenel’s Chevre Inc, and typical French charcuterie of Fabrique Delices.

All this food was accompanied by a selection of outstanding wines:

- the zesty but sophisticated Santa Lucia Highlands 2006 Brut sparkling wine from Caraccioli Cellars, thanks to Michel Salgues and the Caraccioli family

- the classic and elegant Alienor rosé from May-Britt and Denis Malbec at Malbec & Malbec Cellars

- the delicious blended Metisse and the youthful CJ from Philippe and Cherie Melka

- and last but not least the fruity and velvety Illegitimate 2007, the aromatic and spicy  Epice 2010, the full-nosed and complex Syrah 2009, the phenomenal Cabernet Sauvignon 2007 and the fruity and creamy Grapes 2010 from VGS Chateau Potelle.

Santé !

PS: Photos of the event are available on Facebook!