The current managing director of Bouchard Père & Fils, Thomas Seiter, will take over the presidency of another famous Beaune house, Louis Jadot. No sooner had the information been made official on Tuesday, September 27, than a wave of rumors swelled in the Burgundy vineyard. Bouchard Père & Fils was about to change hands, well-informed people whispered. And everyone wondered: who was going to win the crazy auction? Francois Pinault or Bernard Arnault? The two businessmen, accustomed to crossing swords in all fields, including wine, are already both neighbors and rivals in Burgundy. Finally, the Pinault family won the bet.
A press release, published on Friday, September 30, details the operation without revealing the amount of the transaction. In fact, the vineyard branch of the Artémis group of the Pinault family, called Artémis Domaines, merges with Maisons & Domaines Henriot, owner of the champagnes of the same name but especially of Bouchard Père & Fils. “The Henriot family will own 25% of the capital of the new entity”, says Gilles de Larouzière Henriot, current CEO of Maisons & Domaines Henriot. He will be appointed chairman of the supervisory board of the merged entity, which will keep both its name of Artémis Domaines and its managing director, Frédéric Engerer.
To understand the interest of the operation for the Pinault family, you have to open the doors of Bouchard Père & Fils. Trading house installed in the prestigious castle of Beaune (Côte-d’Or), leaning against the ramparts of the city, it is above all the owner of the largest Burgundy vineyard. It is proud to own 130 hectares of vines, including 12 hectares of grands crus and 74 hectares of premier crus. Following the example of the very famous Vigne de l’Enfant Jésus, a 3.92-hectare plot located in the heart of the Beaune-Grèves appellation.
“Flags that escape family viticulture”
The “Grande Maison”, as the people of Beaunois call it, whose history dates back to 1731, was bought in 1995 by the Henriot family from Champagne. The Pinault family also finds in the bridal basket the domain William Fèvre, the most important operator of grands crus in Chablis, in the Yonne, and the domain Beaux Frères, in the State of Oregon, in the United States. It is thus consolidating its positions in Burgundy, where it already owns Clos de Tart, in Morey-Saint-Denis (Côte-d’Or).
She did not hesitate to spend 250 million euros in 2017 to afford this rare pearl adjoining Clos des Lambrays, owned by Bernard Arnault. Artémis Domaines still owns the Eugénie estate, located in Vosne-Romanée (Côte-d’Or). This operation is a new example of the thirst for great fortunes for the Burgundy vineyard. We could also mention the acquisition, in 2018, by Martin Bouygues, associated with his brother, of the domain Henri Rebourseau, located in Gevrey-Chambertin (Côte-d’Or).
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