Grands Chais de France buys Bordeaux’s Maison Bouey negociant business

ollowing on from the co-operation agreement signed last June, Grands Chais de France (GCF) has scaled up its involvement in Bordeaux negociant company Maison Bouey, run by Jacques Bouey. In a recent press statement, the group announced that it had completed its purchase of the business, which becomes effective on October 1. Although Bouey had stated in June that “Maison Bouey will remain commercially and financially independent”, in this latest announcement GCF has specified that Maison Bouey’s business “will now be supported by GCF, its cutting-edge logistics resources and its international sales network, whilst retaining its own identity and independence”.

Although no figures about the transaction have been disclosed, the deal is being described as “a strategic convergence based on the complementary skillsets of both businesses”. Maison Bouey’s incorporation into the Alsace-based group “will allow GCF and its subsidiary companies Calvet Dulong and Crus et Domaines de France (CDF) to strengthen their presence in the Bordeaux trade, consolidate their brand portfolio and confirm their ambition of becoming a benchmark partner in Bordeaux”, at a time when the region is experiencing a major marketing crisis.

Maison Bouey will benefit not only from GCF’s bottling and storage facilities in Landiras (the equivalent of 8 million bottles of Maison Bouey wines) and access to new formats (boxes, screwcaps, sparkling wines), but also from “the international sales network belonging to France’s leading wine exporter”. The merger aims to combine “the tradition and excellence of the Bordeaux wine region with the powerful capabilities and modernity of a major international group”, sums up a press statement released by the two companies’ CEOs, Joseph Helfrich and Jacques Bouey.