Syndicat régional des courtiers en vins et spiritueux de Bordeaux, de la Gironde et du Sud-Ouest

In Gironde, the wine brokers have a considerable and preponderant importance; their role consists mainly in putting in touch the seller and the buyer. To do so, they had to know perfectly well the needs of the trade as well as the availability and the qualities of the wines produced in the various properties.
 
Moreover, they are more or less specialized: some deal mainly with red wines, others are mainly interested in white wines, sometimes working in particular regions. There are even brokers who deal almost exclusively with bottled wines. 
 
Once buyers have specified the characteristics of the wine they want, as well as the price at which they would like to acquire it, brokers try to find among the growers the one or ones who have wines corresponding to the quality and price desired by the merchant. On the other hand, when a producer is willing to sell his wine, he offers it to the brokers, who, after tasting and analyzing it, present it to the merchants who might be interested. When the transaction is effective, and after having collected the agreement of the parties on the conditions of the market, they establish a confirmation slip with the exact conditions of the transaction; the brokers remain the moral guarantors of the good execution of the contracts. Finally, at the time of delivery, they are in charge of the "approval". They must ensure the conformity of the wine delivered with the samples presented beforehand.
 
To exercise this profession, it is therefore necessary to know and appreciate the quality of the wines produced, as well as the specificity of the wines usually handled by the various merchants. Brokerage, thus understood, is a real science that one acquires through long observations, numerous tastings, a great practice and a right judgment. Their competence and integrity are, and have been for a long time, universally recognized, and it is to them that one appeals when it is a question of appreciating the quality of wines. Thus, in 1854, the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce, in order to carry out the classification that it wished to see included in the Universal Exhibition of 1855, called upon the brokers' union. 
 
On the other hand, many of the "classifications" carried out since that time at the request of various organizations have often been entrusted to brokers' associations. This was particularly true for the classifications of Graves, Saint-Émilion and the Crus Bourgeois Supérieurs and Bourgeois du Médoc.

Representatives of brokers still sit on the approval committees of the various appellations. In the past, brokers were ministerial officers and their number was limited. Currently, the activity of a broker is conditional upon passing an examination. Since 2020, candidates must prove that they have completed a minimum 6-month internship in the wine industry, or that they have obtained a diploma from a wine industry training program, or that they have acquired a minimum of 6 months of professional experience in the territory of a Member State of the European Union or a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area as a self-employed worker or employee in the wine industry. The jury is chaired by a consular judge and composed of a professor of oenology, a local representative of the profession of retired wine and spirits brokers and a member of the chamber of commerce and industry in whose territorial jurisdiction the examination is organized. The jury judges the candidates' skills in the following areas:

• oenological knowledge ;
• tasting skills
• knowledge of commercial law and brokerage contracts.

There are also sworn brokers whose duties include price estimates, auctions and amicable or judicial appraisals. They are in charge of establishing the official quotations of the wines, taking into account the transactions carried out on the Place de Bordeaux.
 
With a rich history and a desire to continually adapt to market changes, this "third man" in the industry, an indispensable intermediary in the Bordeaux marketplace with more than 75% of annual transactions carried out through it, is the irreplaceable link in the glorious chain of great Bordeaux wines.
 
The regional union, the largest in France, groups together the majority of wine brokers practicing in our region and holding a registration number in the National Register of Wine and Spirits Brokers issued by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of France. Its purpose, in addition to interprofessional and official representation, is to ensure, among other things, that the trade and property are presented with the moral guarantees that they are entitled to demand from the intermediaries who visit them.
 
Being independent of the parties, the broker will always have to heart to defend and commercially develop the wines of the exceptional Bordeaux wine heritage.