Bordeaux winegrower sues 2 negociants for buying bulk wine “at predatory prices”

he move is unprecedented for Bordeaux – two significant negociants* have received a summons to appear before the city’s commercial court for bulk wine purchase prices deemed too low by their supplier, Médoc winegrower Rémi Lacombe. As the owner of 138 hectares of vines in Civrac (including Château Bessan-Ségur), Lacombe claims he is launching “proceedings in the common interest aimed at value sharing within the industry”. The court case was brought to light by leading French journalist Jacques Dupont in the magazine ‘Le Point’, and according to Lacombe’s lawyer Louis Lacamp is based on article L. 442-7 of the Commercial Code, which sanctions “the fact that a buyer of agricultural products or foodstuffs forces his supplier to charge predatory sales prices”.

Based on invoices from June 2021 to July 2022, Lacombe's wineries sold wines at prices ranging from €1,150 to €1,200 per barrel for the 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintages, whereas the cost price for Médoc AOC is €2,000 per barrel for the 2019 and 2020 vintages, and even €2,500 for the 2021 vintage according to the latest data from the Aquitaine Agricultural and Rural Management Centre (CEGARA). Defining a fair price as being 10% above the cost price, Lacamp is suing for compensation of €574,000 from the first negociant and €536,000 from the second. “The legal basis is simple: it is forbidden to buy at predatory prices”, sums up Lacombe’s lawyer, who stresses that the regulations, which came into force under the Egalim law in 2019, have never yet been enforced.

* Rémi Lacombe and his lawyer do not wish to disclose the names of the two negociants, as their aim is not to target specific companies, but rather a system of discounting.