Bernard Magrez explains how to successfully create a wine brand

hilst celebrating his 87th birthday between Germany (at ProWein in Dusseldorf) and China (Tang Jiu Hui in Chengdu), Bernard Magrez gave his time and energy unsparingly in support of his namesake brand. It is, after all, one of the ten most widely known brands in China, “and the only French name with the Rothschilds”, pointed out a visibly proud Magrez. His collections, from his negociant offerings to his Grands Crus Classés (Châteaux Pape Clément in Pessac-Léognan, Fombrauge in Saint-Émilion, La Tour Carnet in the Médoc and Clos Haut-Peyraguey in Sauternes), sport his signature banner and Papal keys.

His explanation for the lack of major French brands is that “it is difficult to comprehend competitive trends in France, just as it is in Spain and Italy, the world’s three largest producer countries”, summed up Magrez. He did highlight some great success stories, however, like the Minuty brand, combining the Château Minuty label and negociant wines branded M de Minuty. Because fundamentally, “the strength of a brand is not being restricted by acreage. Château La Tour Carnet has 250 hectares and produces 900,000 bottles when all goes well – there comes a point when you cannot extend any further. Profitability of communications worldwide is limited by that volume”.  

His advice to marketers is that to create value, you need values. “There are several ways of publicising a brand – research and development into environmental protection and philanthropy, for example. A brand must have a social mission and make that known”, was the point hammered home by Magrez. A brand also needs to draw on the embodiment of a story. When it comes to storytelling, Magrez certainly has plenty of stories to tell from his own eventful background.

His life story is in fact the central theme of an American documentary currently being finalised. When asked about the documentary, Magrez recalls that “they said they’d seen my relatively difficult past, with the abuse of my father who side-lined me when I was 13, my diploma in wood sawing which I passed when I was 16 and when I joined Cordier at the age of 19… They knew as much about my life as I did”. After two years of filming, the documentary will be presented at the Cannes film festival market next May, in a format suitable for screening on platforms like Netflix.