Definition: wine trade in Burgundy

Burgundy from a wine merchant's perspective

• 250 wine merchants (4,000 estates, 23 cooperative cellars);
• 55% of sales generated by wine merchants in 150 countries (compared to 30% for estates and 15% for wine merchants);
• 2,000 hectares of vineyards owned by wine merchants (including 160 hectares - approximately 40% - of grands crus);
• wine merchants own an average of 30 hectares of vineyards;
• Wine trading turnover: €1.5 billion.

Wine trading: a clarification is needed

Wine merchant and producer: a merchant who buys batches of wine to age in their cellars and sell bottled under their own brand.

In the past, wine trading allowed companies to buy wine in bulk from winegrowers to bottle and sell it. The wine merchant profession, which originated in^{the 18th} century, at least in Burgundy, with houses such as Champy, Louis Latour, Chanson, Bouchard Père et Fils, Louis Jadot, Albert Bichot, etc., is completely different today!

The old image of buying wine in bulk is a cliché that persists but no longer reflects reality. Nowadays, there is not just one wine merchant, but many.

Burgundy wine merchants want to play the high-end card. It is true that houses such as Louis Jadot and Bouchard Père et Fils market the greatest wines of Burgundy: Montrachet, Corton-Charlemagne, etc. It was in Burgundy that the term "haute couture wine merchant" was coined by Dominique Laurent. Around half of production is bought by merchants. Their strengths? A commercial arsenal and distribution networks structured to sell large volumes, particularly for export. They are the ones who set the market trends. They are also the ones who gauge the health of our estates. In short, since the négociants cleaned up their act, the wine trade and viticulture have been in the same boat!

Wine merchants and brand strategy: what are we talking about?

Today, it has become a real trend: you have to make branded wines. This approach, which was initiated by the wine trade in Champagne and Burgundy, is now taking precedence over AOCs. It also has the merit of offering consumers an alternative. Who is behind these "branded wines"? They are estates that emphasise their reputation and the name of their winemaker to market their wines, whether they are wine merchants, if they do not own the vines, or owners. Good winemakers can no longer meet the demand of their customers. With a wine merchant business, they can increase their production. Ultimately, it's quite simple.

Today, a Hautes-Côtes de Nuits or a Bourgogne Pinot Noir will sell easily as long as they come from an estate such as Méo-Camuzet, Vincent Girardin, Nicolas Potel, Thibaut Liger-Belair, etc. These are true signatures. The advantage for the consumer? A Burgundy bearing a big name can be snapped up for around £15. Of course, it's still expensive, but premier cru appellations and sometimes even village appellations have become unaffordable. Whereas Burgundy or Hautes-Côtes appellations allow you to buy very good wines at lower prices. For a winegrower, trading is also often a way of expanding elsewhere, for example in Chablis, while the estate itself is based in Beaune.

A "Haute Couture" wine merchant

The concept of "Haute Couture" wine trading has now gained ground, at least among enthusiasts who see it as a certain type of wine trading. Especially since, for some enthusiasts, this very vague concept is of little importance. They buy a branded wine, a wine from a winemaker such as Charlopin, regardless of whether he ultimately owns his own vineyards. In short, Burgundy is playing the high-end wine merchant card.

The first to use the term "haute couture", it is said, was Dominique Laurent. His wine merchant's house now has nothing left to prove, such is the remarkable quality of its wines, albeit a little discreet, even absent. The plots are very strictly hand-picked, old vines are favoured and the wines are aged in barrels from his own cooperage. But unlike other Burgundy négociants, the house does not vinify the selected wines itself; only the ageing is carried out by the master. Since its creation in 1989, the Dominique Laurent wine merchant has specialised in rare vintages from old Pinot Noir vines, aged entirely by hand in new barrels. Since then, Dominique Laurent has gained a following, and the concept of "haute couture" has gradually gained ground. This is particularly evident in the case of the Bret brothers, who created their wine merchant business, Bret Brothers, in 2001. Their ambition? To produce very fine terroir wines, mainly from small plots in southern Burgundy. And their trademark is simple: 1 wine = 1 plot = 1 winegrower to guarantee the typical characteristics of each terroir.

A woman at the helm

The wine trade in Burgundy is constantly changing. Take Claire Forestier, for example, who is returning to the forefront of the wine scene with her "Terres d'arômes". She wears the hat of "winemaker" with the cap of "businesswoman" that suits her so well. She has become something of a "jack of all trades" for a winery created from scratch, with a very promising range of wines. Named "Terres d'arômes", this new wine merchant is playing the high-end card: Mazoyères Chambertin, Clos Vougeot. But that's not all. From the Côte de Nuits to the Côte de Beaune, the range is consistent and very appealing. The 20 appellations, all from the first 2007 vintage, will produce only 45,000 bottles, which are already selling like hotcakes!

Vincent Girardin, a turnaround

This native of Santenay represents the 11th generation of a family of winegrowers. When he took over the estate in 1982, the vineyard covered only 2 hectares. Although the estate now covers 20 hectares, since the 1990s Vincent Girardin has also developed a wine merchant business, producing 500,000 bottles per year. But today, the Girardin estate intends to focus on production that is 100% estate-grown (entirely biodynamic). Why? Quite simply because, with such high standards of excellence, it becomes extremely difficult, and in some cases impossible, to find good appellations, according to Véronique Girardin.

Source: © DIVINE-COMEDIE, a highly recommended website for studying "the best of Burgundy":