Louis Vialard

The house

Louis Vialard owned Château Cissac, a Cru Bourgeois of the Haut-Médoc since the classification of 1932. In 1951, at 32, he settled in London and formed a company under British law to sell its wine in England himself. Some years later he set up the house that bears his name, wine merchants in Bordeaux since 1969.

His children Danielle and Pascal worked with him. In the late 1980s father and children taught the trade to Eric Hosteins, president of the house since 2004 and its majority shareholder. Fanny Alos, managing director since 2017, and Marie Vialard, who runs Château Cissac, hold the other shares.

The house works from La Villa de l’Estuaire, a building of 1880 on the river at Pauillac, restored in 2020. It holds more than 4,000 wines in stock, 4 in 5 of them classed growths, and has room for more than 4 million bottles. From Pauillac it ships to 45 countries, and in 2024 and 2025 Asia took more than half its sales. In the year to September 30, 2025 its sales came to about 23 million euros, and more than 9 euros in 10 were earned abroad. Its food safety certification, ISO 22000, dates from 2018.

The classed growths of Bordeaux are the core of its business, alongside fine wines from elsewhere. Its first wine is still Cissac, now a Cru Bourgeois Supérieur, and the house sells it alone, around the world.

At a glance

Kind

Négociant

Based in

Pauillac, at La Villa de l’Estuaire

Founded

In London in 1951, by Louis Vialard; in Bordeaux since 1969

Owner

Eric Hosteins, majority shareholder, with Fanny Alos and Marie Vialard, as of 2025

Direction

Eric Hosteins, president, since 2004; Fanny Alos, managing director, since 2017