Georges Duboeuf (14 April 1933 – 4 January 2020) was a French wine merchant, and the founder of Les Vins Georges Duboeuf, one of the largest wine merchants in France. The company is known for its popularization and production of

Beaujolais Beaujolais ( , ) is a French ''Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée'' (AOC) wine generally made of the Gamay grape, which has a thin skin and is low in tannins. Like most AOC wines they are not labeled varietally. Whites from the region, which mak ...

wines, leading to Duboeuf's nicknames of ''le roi du Beaujolais'' or sometimes ''pape du Beaujolais'' (the king or pope of Beaujolais).

Early life

Duboeuf was born on 14 April 1933 in

Crêches-sur-Saône Crêches-sur-Saône (, literally ''Crêches on Saône'') is a commune in the Saône-et-Loire department in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. See also *Communes of the Saône-et-Loire department The following is a list ...

, near the village of Chaintré, in the

Pouilly-Fuissé Pouilly-Fuissé () is an ''appellation'' (AOC) for white wine in the Mâconnais subregion of Burgundy in central France, located in the communes of Fuissé, Solutré-Pouilly, Vergisson and Chaintré. Pouilly-Fuissé has Chardonnay as the ...

appellation An appellation is a legally defined and protected geographical indication primarily used to identify where the grapes for a wine were grown, although other types of food often have appellations as well. Restrictions other than geographical boun ...

of France. Pouilly-Fuissé consists of five villages, southwest of the

commune A commune is an alternative term for an intentional community. Commune or comună or comune or other derivations may also refer to: Administrative-territorial entities * Commune (administrative division), a municipality or township ** Communes of ...

Mâcon Mâcon (), historically anglicised as Mascon, is a city in east-central France. It is the prefecture of the department of Saône-et-Loire in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Mâcon is home to near 34,000 residents, who are referred to in French as M� ...

, in the central French wine-making region of

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

. Duboeuf was raised on a small farm, where his family owned a few acres of

Chardonnay Chardonnay (, , ) is a green-skinned grape variety used in the production of white wine. The variety originated in the Burgundy wine region of eastern French wine, France, but is now grown wherever wine is produced, from English wine, Englan ...

vines. His father died when he was very young, and his uncle and older brother, Roger, took over the business.

Career

Duboeuf helped on the family vineyard growing up, cranking the manual grape crusher when he was just six. At the age of 18, he began delivering wine on his bicycle from producers to local restaurants. He began bottling Beaujolais to meet a customer's commission, and went on to form a syndicate of 45 local growers, the Ecrin Mâconnais-Beaujolais. The organization fell apart due to squabbling, and Duboeuf became a

négociant A winemaker or vintner is a person engaged in winemaking. They are generally employed by wineries or wine companies, where their work includes: *Cooperating with viticulturists *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to dete ...

in 1964, when he founded Les Vins Georges Duboeuf.

Les Vins Georges Duboeuf

Duboeuf's business produces more than 2.5 million cases of wine annually. He was almost single-handedly responsible for popularizing the annual

Beaujolais nouveau Beaujolais nouveau ( , ) is a red wine made from Gamay grapes produced in the Beaujolais region of France. It is a ''vin de primeur'', Fermentation (wine), fermented for just a few weeks before being released for sale on the third Thursday of N ...

phenomenon, and won awards for his wines. The company's

wine labels Wine labels are important sources of information for consumers since they tell the type and origin of the wine. The label is often the only resource a buyer has for evaluating the wine before purchasing it. Certain information is ordinarily inclu ...

are easily recognizable by their use of colorful flower images and the distinctive Duboeuf insignia. In 2018, Duboeuf passed control of the company to his son Franck Duboeuf.

Personal life

He married his wife Rolande in the early 1960s, and they had two children, Fabienne and Franck. On 4 January 2020, Duboeuf died from a stroke at age 86.

External links

* Rose, Anthony. (2007-02-14.
"Interview with Georges Duboeuf."
''Decanter'', via decanter.com. Retrieved on 2007-10-04. * Langley, William. (2006-07-09.
"The King of Beaujolais takes a tumble."
(News website.) ''Telegraph.co.uk''. Retrieved on 2007-10-04. * Meert, Brian. (2009-09-03.
"Wine Tote Contest with Georges Duboeuf"
''Handbago'', via Handbago.com/blog. Retrieved on 2009-09-04.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Duboeuf, Georges 1933 births 2020 deaths People from Saône-et-Loire Wineries of France Wine merchants