Guide
What do courtiers and négociants do in Bordeaux?
The estate rarely sells to you. On la place, it sells to a merchant through a broker who never owns a bottle, and the merchant sells to the world.
The short answer
The courtier, a broker, arranges the sale; the négociant, a merchant house, buys the wine and sells it on. About 100 courtiers handle 75% of the deals between owners and merchants, and some 300 négociants make about 2 in 3 of all Bordeaux sales, to more than 170 countries.
Estate, broker, merchant, world
The estate sells to a négociant. Between them stands a courtier, who knows both sides, tastes the wine, carries the offer, negotiates, and guarantees that the deal is completed. The négociant sells on to importers and merchants, who sell to shops, restaurants, and private buyers. La place de Bordeaux is the name for that whole machine, and it is centuries old.
| Role | How many | What passes through them |
|---|---|---|
| Courtier | About 100 | 75% of the transactions between owner and merchant |
| Négociant | About 300 | About 2 in 3 of all Bordeaux sales, to more than 170 countries |
A Bordeaux estate typically spreads its wine across 30 or 40 négociants, which is how a First Growth can reach every market on earth within hours of a release. It is also why no single merchant can corner a wine.
The courtier, the least visible job in wine
The profession was recognized by a decree of Philip the Fair in 1321, and in France it is regulated by an act of December 31, 1949. Courtiers are not salesmen for either side. They taste constantly, know what every cellar holds, tell the estate what the market will bear, and tell the négociant what is worth having. They take a commission on the sale, by custom about 2%. Their capital is that both sides believe them.
A courtier never owns a bottle. The wine goes from the estate to the négociant, and the courtier is paid for bringing the 2 together and seeing the deal through.
Why wines from Chile and Tuscany are sold in Bordeaux
Because the machine works, and it does not care where the wine is from. Estates from outside Bordeaux began using la place in the late 1990s. There are 2 international release windows a year, in March and September, with well over 100 wines in the bigger campaign. They come from Italy, California, Chile, Argentina, Australia, Spain, Austria, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Those estates join for the reach: a few Bordeaux houses can put a wine in front of thousands of buyers in a morning. What changes is the shape. A Bordeaux château uses dozens of négociants; a foreign estate coming onto la place usually uses a handful and keeps the rest of its distribution for itself.
Where the 1855 classification came from
The brokers’ price books. When the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce needed a ranking for the Paris exhibition of 1855, it did not commission tastings. It asked the brokers’ syndicate, which ranked the wines by what they had been fetching.
The most famous classification in wine is a brokers’ ledger with a title page.
Where to go next
Sources: Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux, the broker · Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux, the wine merchant · Decanter, Stephen Brook, Bordeaux’s cosy tradition, on the courtier’s commission and the négociant’s margin