Vignerons normally harvest their own vineyards, and get their grapes from their own plots. It seems, however, that an increasing part of the wine production is coming from bought grapes, i.e grapes from vineyards owned by others.
This can be a sale of grapes, of juice or even “more or less” finished wine … where another entity does a part of the work in making the wine.
This part of the wine economy is rarely discussed extensively, however, it’s there with even top-end producers!
This is not something new, and it has been practiced for years and even decades. Some of these grapes are bought as part of rental agreements (métayage or fermage agreements) while others are traded as a spot purchase of typically one or a few oaks of wine … or grapes equivalent of producing the wine.
Some of these spot trades are paid in cash, while others are swapped between vignerons. Some vignerons have too much Grand Cru but small amounts of village wines. This is a case where a swap could be useful … where two vignerons swap x village oaks for one barrel of one Grand Cru.
You need to login as a Premium subscriber to read the rest of this article. If you are not a Premium Subscriber, use the subscribe function and sign-up.
- A true vin d’émotion – a Burgundy of passion
- A truly hedonistic wine – lively and enjoyable
- A vivacious wine for pure indulgance
- A potential vin d´émotion - frais et léger