Dream Weavers

WHAT WOULD BURGUNDY BE WITHOUT THE WINE TRADERS? Often centuries old—Champy was founded in 1720, Bouchard in 1750, Chanson in 1750, Louis Latour in 1797—these wine houses were the first to market the region's wines, first in France, then quickly abroad. They opened up markets, introduced wines to new audiences, and established their reputation, to such an extent that Burgundy wines are now among the most sought-after by wine lovers worldwide. Even today, the wine trade continues to set trends, marketing 60% of the wines produced each year, according to the Federation of Burgundy Wine Merchants and Producers (FNEB). But the situation has changed considerably. In the meantime, the wine trading houses have become vineyard owners. They even own 15% of the vineyards, with 120 hectares for Faiveley, 115 hectares for Louis Jadot, 100 hectares for Albert Bichot and Joseph Drouhin, and 48 hectares for Louis Latour. Frédéric Drouhin, president of the family-owned company of the same name, explains: "We established a vineyard very early on. This had a dual objective: to control our supply and to improve the quality of our wines. We thus acquired a winemaking facility in the 1920s." Gradually, the wine houses moved from buying finished wines to buying grapes and must to vinify them themselves. According to data provided by the FNEB, 51% of transactions today are indeed for grapes or must. This figure reaches 60% for village, premier and grand cru appellations. Some houses, such as Édouard Delaunay or Joseph Drouhin, go even further and no longer buy any finished wines. Everything marketed under their label has been vinified and aged by them. The same is true for the Champy wine house, which has been owned by the Advini group since 2016.  Significant changes have taken place in recent years, according to Dimitri Bazas, its technical director and oenologist. Initially, the company's image was tarnished by the fact that many of the wines it offered were very similar. But The emergence of modern oenology in the late 1990s had a revolutionary effect, and wine houses began producing very high-quality wines. Over the years, some wines from these houses have even become iconic, such as the Beaune Premier Cru Clos des Mouches from Drouhin, the Grèves-Vigne de l'Enfant Jésus from Bouchard, and the Clos des Fèves from Chanson, or the Corton Grand Cru Château Corton Grancey from Louis Latour. Fewer and fewer professionals now look down on the wine trade, says Laurent Delaunay, current president of the Burgundy Wine Board (BIVB), who relaunched the Edouard Delaunay wine house in 2017, founded by his great-grandfather in 1893.
A CONVERGENCE OF MODELS
While the wine trade is subtly but surely moving towards production, viticulture is beginning to take the opposite path. The wine trade has evolved considerably over the last forty years. It has become more concentrated, and new players from other regions, such as Grands Chais de France or Castel, have entered the market, regardless of the cost. At the same time, winemakers have developed their own wine trading activities, observes Laurent Delaunay. While there are currently 300 wine trading houses, 1,200 winemakers out of the 4,500 members of the Burgundy Appellations and Winemakers' Confederation (CAVB) also engage in wine trading. We are witnessing a convergence of the two models, continues Laurent Delaunay. This inevitably disrupts the market. All of this has led to greater competition for supplies and therefore higher prices, admits Thomas Seiter, Managing Director of the Louis Jadot wine house. Prices have risen faster than the ability of the wine houses to increase their prices. The price of Puligny-Montrachet, for example, has tripled in five years. It's no longer possible to make a living solely by buying grapes from top-quality vineyards. Consequently, new types of businesses are emerging here and there—small, boutique-style operations, where the winemaker processes the grapes as if they came from their own vineyard.

their own vineyard. This is the case, for example, with Thibault Liger-Belair, who started his wine trading business in 2004, three years after taking over the estate. "For me, it was an opportunity to work with appellations that I don't have access to through my own vineyard. And it also allows me to be less dependent on the vagaries of the weather. If hail damages one of my vineyards, I will still have wine to sell from other appellations." Thibault Liger-Belair manages the vineyards from which he buys grapes and vinifies them in the same way as his own. Now, his eight hectares of owned vineyards are supplemented by ten hectares of grapes sourced from other growers. It was also out of necessity that Jean-Guillaume and Jean-Philippe Bret launched their wine trading business. "When we took over the La Soufrandière estate in 2001 (located in Vinzelles, in the southern Maconnais region), we only had six hectares, which wasn't enough for my brother and me," explains Jean-Philippe. "From the following year, we created Les Bret Brothers, based on the model of Jean-Marie Guffens' wine trading business, where we had worked between 1995 and 1996." Here, the two brothers don't manage the vineyards themselves, but buy the grapes directly from the vines. They only work with people who share their philosophy, and since 2018, all the wines they trade are certified organic. A DUTY TO LEAD BY EXAMPLE
Organic farming is, moreover, a path that many wine merchants have taken, some for a very long time, as Frédéric Drouhin points out: "Our vineyard has been certified organic since 1988." The same is true of the Champy estate, which adopted biodynamic practices in 2005, Joseph Faiveley, certified in July 2025 to mark its 200th anniversary, and Louis Jadot, which began its certification process in 2021. "The trade must be a driving force in these initiatives, set an example and convince its partners to commit to organic farming," argues Thomas Seiter. The conversion to organic farming of the six estates of Albert Bichot began twenty years ago, culminating in full certification in 2024. This is not the only initiative undertaken by the company. "Our labels are now made of biodegradable and recyclable cotton, our adhesives are derived from corn and starch, and the vast majority of our packaging cartons are made from recycled materials, as are our bottles," explains Albéric Bichot. Not to mention that the Beaune-based company is starting to test shipping its wines across the Atlantic by cargo sailboat with the company Grain de Sail. "The trade is a pioneer in decarbonization, for example, by reducing the weight of bottles," emphasizes Laurent Delaunay. In addition to stopping air shipments, which reduced its carbon footprint by 30%, the Drouhin company is testing even lighter bottles. "In 2008, we reduced the weight from 560 to 520 grams per bottle. We now aim to use 420-gram bottles for all our wines, including our grand crus," says Frédéric Drouhin proudly. One final challenge remains: welcoming wine enthusiasts and offering them an opportunity to discover the vineyards and the places where the wines that they so admire are produced and aged. After lagging behind for some time, particularly compared to their Champagne neighbors who have long offered such experiences, the major wine merchants have recognized the value of providing high-quality wine tourism offerings. "For us, it's a way to diversify our activities and counteract the decline in consumption," explains Frédéric Drouhin. "Fifteen years ago, we created an immersive tour to showcase our family history." The company now aims to position itself in the high-end market. "We opened two amazing venues in 2024 with partners. The first, called Maison 1896, is a boutique hotel with a gourmet restaurant offering Vietnamese-inspired cuisine, located in the heart of Beaune's historic center, in the former post office building. For the second, we renovated, with the help of Etienne de Montille, a charming manor house in the middle of the Clos Vougeot vineyards, which is available for rent for lunch, dinner, or overnight stays." Some wine houses still don't offer any tours. This is a shortcoming that will undoubtedly need to be addressed quickly if the wine trade wants to continue setting a good example.