The couple’s first script, about Don Juan, intrigued Steven Spielberg and Columbia Pictures, which flew them to Hollywood and put them up at the Four Seasons. “It was a great life–sitting by the pool, the limos—for several years,” he sighed. “We were pigeonholed as ‘period piece’ writers.” None of the screenplays was ever produced.

For almost 10 years now, the prince’s career has been tightly tied to a real life ‘period piece,’ the family wine saga that began with his great-grandfather, American financier Clarence Dillon, who purchased Château Haut Brion in 1935 for a mere 2,300,000 francs (then equivalent to $153,000). The family’s next big buy, in 1983, was highly regarded Château La Mission Haut-Brion.

Bordeaux châteaux near one another frequently have similar names: The two were first linked nearly 500 years ago when they were owned by a pair of brothers-in-law; later La Mission was owned by a religious order for 130 years. (La Mission, get it?)

The urbane, 48-year-old prince, who speaks in rounded tones with a British accent, has a formal way of speaking but his style of dress is very un-Savile Row: His light green jacket, with a Mandarin collar and bone buttons, is an Austrian ready made that he bought off the rack. It goes well with his luxurious full beard. (His mother, Joan Dillon, married Prince Charles of Luxembourg, which is how Prince Robert came by his title.)

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“In the early 1970s, Bordeaux was less trendy and the château was like a family farm,” the prince explained “Chickens ran around in the courtyard, and we had rabbit hutches.” Back then, he played in the sandbox with current winemaker Jean-Philippe Delmas, whose grandfather and father preceded him as winemakers.

Even before 2008, when Prince Robert became president of Domaine Clarence Dillon SAS on his mother's retirement, he had started expanding the company and pushing global awareness of his family’s famous wine brands.

“I knew I had to think long-term and create growth,” Prince Robert said, “or the châteaux were just going to be trophy assets.”

The challenge was big: How do you expand the smallest first-growth in Bordeaux when you can’t add vineyards to it? The only way is to add estates and work to make sure some first-growth stardust falls on them.

So, in 2005, he started a negociant house (a wine merchant business that sells bottles from other châteaux) and added an entry-level “super-premium” line of branded Bordeaux wines named Clarendelle. The red in particular (2012, $20) is surprisingly good, considering that more than 1 million bottles are made.

Then, in 2011 and 2013, he acquired two top, albeit run-down Saint-Émilion estates, uniting them under the name Château Quintus. It and the second wine Le Dragon de Quintus have charm, but they are still works in progress.