UDM and Grap’Sud create the world’s largest wine distillery group

With the current severe, deep crisis the wine industry is experiencing, Bruno Guin, chairman of UDM (Union des Distilleries de la Méditerrannée) and Denis Mayol, chairman of Grap’Sud, have presented their respective boards with a shared vision aimed at implementing an ambitious partnership project involving both companies”, announced a press release by these two major players in the wine distillation industry. They have announced their intention of strengthening their joint capacities and pooling their strengths in a bid to cope with the prospect of significant vine pulls.

Although the merger does not involve the processing facilities, it pools collection and marketing aspects, along with sales of by-products stemming from processing pomace, lees and wines. “We are shaping a joint future revolving around collection and marketing”, sums up Hugues Maignan, director of UDM. The group leads the way for collection of winery by-products in France, processing around 110,000 tonnes of pomace a year, versus 65,000 for Grap’Sud. “Turnover, however, is fairly similar, because Grap’Sud has a significant business with sugar that we don’t have”, adds Maignan, specifying that UDM’s revenue is in the range of €50 million.

Combining all by-products, the new group will collect 300,000 tonnes of pomace, lees and wine, “including 100,000 tonnes north of Lyon. The group’s scope is not just the South of France”, points out Maignan. Cross-shareholdings are being introduced across the distilleries’ respective subsidiary companies Romann (Grap’Sud) and in Beaujolais (UDM) “to develop an impactful industrial centre in the north-eastern region of France with the ability to serve the needs of all northern wine regions where the two groups have a foothold (Alsace, Champagne, Jura, Burgundy, Beaujolais, the Massif Central and Savoy)”, states the press release. The groups are also due to co-operate with their concentrated rectified grape must businesses – UDM will take shares in Gardovial, Grap’Sud’s facilities in San Clemente, Spain.