Tell me about yourself and your firm…
I have been a wine broker for about twenty years. Before that, I worked for a bank for 8 years, serving businesses. I have always been passionate about wine; I should have pursued a career in Paris, but as a native of Bordeaux, I preferred to stay in Bordeaux. So I took an interest in the opportunities offered by the wine world. Friends who were owners and négociants advised me to set up a brokerage office. So I took the exam and set up on my own account. I work mainly on the Left Bank (the Médoc, the Haut-Médoc and the communal appellations). It seems to me that, working alone, you have to be the specialist of a region to respond quickly to requests. You can’t be everywhere; you have to know how to react fast. I am at the estates three or four times a week to talk with the owners and taste their wines. I know the owners’ different types of wines, their prices and the state of their stocks. I work with about thirty négociants on the Place de Bordeaux, to whom I offer only Bordeaux wines and classified grands crus en primeur.
What does your job involve?
We remain an intermediary between the property and the négoce. When a request concerns a wine profile, a vintage, an AOP or a type of award, we are able to respond to the various négociants by offering samples, which they will taste and subsequently buy.
From there, the broker draws up a contract note that the three parties sign. He receives a 2% commission, paid by the négociant. It is worth recalling here that the broker neither sells nor buys; he puts the owner and the négociant in touch. Bordeaux brokerage, which counts around a hundred offices, has above all evolved with the merging of some brokers and the arrival of young brokers. My business is 80% bottles. I would add, and it is not the least of its missions, that the broker is a relay of information between the négoce and the owners. In that role, he is called upon to advise owners.
Can you look back at a market that seems to have come to a halt?
The financial crisis of 2008 and 2009 should already have had a repercussion on Bordeaux wines. The Chinese market then fortunately opened up to the négoce and pulled us out of an announced bad spot. For some time, the Chinese economy has been doing less well; it faces growth and property problems.
The Chinese government recently injected 150 billion dollars into its economy, which proves, if proof were needed, that the latter is losing momentum. Today, the Chinese market is no longer buying and supermarkets, another major player in the industry, are buying less than before. The rise in interest rates, for its part, has an impact on the cost of stocks. This uncertainty is further increased by the geopolitical context and the American elections.
If it is not always easy to envisage a solution, what do you recommend?
Some intermediate crus are facing a wall! They have no more demand, stocks are growing before our eyes and they sometimes find themselves obliged to pull up vines or sell at a loss. The négoce is doing what it can to get Bordeaux out of the rut and to promote Gironde wines. I would add that Bordeaux is not short of good wines. I have crus bourgeois that the négoce buys at between 4 and 7 euros which are quite remarkable, real nuggets. I would not wish to step out of my role, but I think it is important for owners to sit down around a table with négociants, oenologists and sales people to hear and understand customers’ tastes and wishes.
In addition, I think solidarity will be needed between the different players, and restaurateurs and wine merchants should be encouraged to increase the share of Bordeaux wines on the list. A fine way to welcome the four million tourists – and future prescribers – who pass through the region and want to drink Bordeaux. I would add that, for many wine lovers, Bordeaux is still synonymous with great know-how and quality, well beyond our borders.
