The Wine trade

Being a wine merchant in Bordeaux

Being a wine merchant within the Bordeaux Wine Trade network means knowing and making known more than 65 appellations, 9 000 Châteaux and some 400 Wine Trade brands.

Being a Bordeaux wine merchant means knowing how to provide, store and distribute all over the world an extremely varied range of products, made with expertise that always has the same goal: to satisfy all consumer profiles.

Brand wines

These are wines made by the wine merchant, and custom-designed for the consumer.

They are wines which satisfy three requirements:

• A quantity impact that ensures them visibility and renown on markets
• Consistency in quality
• Price stability

They are wines which enable steady payment for partner winegrowers.

There are approximately 400 Wine Trade brands in Bordeaux.

Châteaux wines

These are terroir wines, whose grapes are harvested and made into wine exclusively from grape varieties grown at the property.

They are wines which originate from a strategic winegrower-wine merchant partnership concerning commercialisation and various distribution options.  This partnership can also focus on a technical production plan.

80% of Châteaux wines are sold by the Wine Trade.

Great Growths

These are truly exceptional wines, which benefit from various classifications and whose name has a very strong reputation around the world.

The economic model of these great growths is typical of Bordeaux : every year in springtime, the Wine Trade network organises the sale en Primeur of the vintage that is in the process of maturing. Bottles will only be available for sale to the consumer 18 months later, on average.

This system represents less than 4% of the quantity of Bordeaux wines, but it is worth almost 25% of the industry’s total turnover.