France’s wine law community loses its mentor, lawyer Eric Agostini

ric Agostini, who passed away on July 14 aged 79, was one of France’s foremost experts in wine law whose reach extended way beyond the Bordeaux bar and the region’s wine industry. As a senior lecturer in wine law, along with international, private and trademark law, he was still teaching students at the time of his passing. He was without a doubt involved in all the major legal cases surrounding the wine industry, making a name for himself not only in Bordeaux but across all the country’s wine regions.

A Bordeaux native, however (his mother was a member of the Médoc’s Gasqueton family), he focused primarily on regional affairs, latterly defending Château Pauillac against INAO, disputes involving Château Figeac’s neighbours, which he won and were no longer contested, and the case involving Caudalie and ‘Grand Cru’ statements. There was also the case involving Petrus vs Petrus Lambertini, where in May 2023 he referred to the “huge” conviction for his clients and philosophised: “You do not discuss a legal ruling, you endure it. Fortunately, you can contest it, and that’s most definitely what we’ll be doing”.

A true expert in all things law-related, he was also a cultured and passionate man, as his wife Hanna Agostini recounts: “He could read around fifteen different languages and could recite verse for hour upon hour”, she explains, reflecting on some of the lesser known aspects of her husband’s personality. “He was a top athlete, but stopped playing hockey after a serious car accident in the 1970s. He held the French record for blood transfusions and three theses were written about him…”

Respected for his skills as a legal expert, Eric Agostini was a formidable and much feared opponent, terrifying his male and female colleagues on whom his sallies left a lasting impression. His freedom of tone knew no bounds, and he had been known to go beyond the pale.