Négociants
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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
viticulturist Viticulture (from the Latin word for ''vine'') or winegrowing (wine growing) is the cultivation and harvesting of grapes. It is a branch of the science of horticulture. While the native territory of ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, ran ...
s *Monitoring the maturity of grapes to ensure their quality and to determine the correct time for harvest *Crushing and pressing grapes *Monitoring the settling of juice and the fermentation of grape material *
Filtering Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component tha ...
the wine to remove remaining solids *Testing the quality of wine by tasting *Placing filtered wine in casks or tanks for
storage Storage may refer to: Goods Containers * Dry cask storage, for storing high-level radioactive waste * Food storage * Intermodal container, cargo shipping * Storage tank Facilities * Garage (residential), a storage space normally used to store car ...
and maturation *Preparing plans for bottling wine once it has matured *Making sure that quality is maintained when the wine is bottled Today, these duties require an increasing amount of scientific knowledge, since laboratory tests are gradually supplementing or replacing traditional methods. Winemakers can also be referred to as oenologists as they study
oenology Oenology (also enology; ) is the science and study of wine and winemaking. Oenology is distinct from viticulture, which is the science of the growing, cultivation, and harvesting of grapes. The English word oenology derives from the Greek word ' ...
– the science of wine.


Vintner

A vintner is a wine
merchant A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as indust ...
. In some modern use, particularly in
American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lan ...
, the term is also used as a synonym for "winemaker". The term started in Middle English, superseding the earlier term ''vinter''. Due to the close political and commercial ties between Bordeaux and England during the 14th and early 15th centuries, vintners were among the more important people in London with winemakers being four times mayor of the city under the reign of
Edward II Edward II (25 April 1284 – 21 September 1327), also called Edward of Caernarfon, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from 1307 until he was deposed in January 1327. The fourth son of Edward I, Edward became the heir apparent to t ...
. The
Worshipful Company of Vintners The Worshipful Company of Vintners is one of the oldest Livery Companies of the City of London, England, thought to date back to the 12th century. It is one of the "Great Twelve" livery companies of London, and its motto is ''Vinum Exhilarat A ...
is one of the oldest livery companies in London.


Vigneron

A vigneron is someone who cultivates a vineyard for winemaking. The word connotes or emphasizes the critical role that vineyard placement and maintenance has in the production of high-quality wine. The term, French for someone who grows grapes or makes wine, is often used in Australia to describe a winemaker who is also involved as an owner or manager as opposed to a person who is employed only to make wine, who is generally referred to as a winemaker. It is also used when referring to a winemaker from France. Vincent of Saragossa is the patron saint of vignerons.


Négociant

''Négociant'' is the
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
term for a wine merchant who assembles the produce of smaller growers and winemakers and sells the result under its own name. Négociants buy everything from grapes to grape
must Must (from the Latin ''vinum mustum'', "young wine") is freshly crushed fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of t ...
to wines in various states of completion. In the case of grapes or must, the ''négociant'' performs virtually all the winemaking. If he buys already fermented wine in barrels or ''en-vrac''—basically in bulk containers, he may
age the wine The aging of wine is potentially able to improve the quality of wine. This distinguishes wine from most other consumable goods. While wine is perishable and capable of deteriorating, complex chemical reactions involving a wine's sugars, acids and ...
further, blend in other wines or simply bottle and sell it as is. The result is sold under the name of the ''négociant'', not the name of the original grape or wine producer. Some ''négociants'' have a recognizable house style. ''Négociants'', who are also called wine merchants/traders, were the dominant force in the wine trade until the last 25 years for various reasons: * Historically the owners of vineyards and producers of wine had no direct access to buyers. * It was too expensive for growers to purchase the Fruit press, wine presses and bottling lines necessary to produce a finished wine. * Owning only a small portion of a particular high-quality single vineyard (''lieu-dit'') meant that a grower often had insufficient wine from a parcel to vinify on its own. Under French inheritance laws, vineyard holdings were often split until offspring owned no more than a single row of grapes, not enough to fill a barrel. Since prices for a ''premier cru'' are typically higher than for wines from a larger area like a village or region, the grower could make more money selling off the production as the ''premier cru'' rather than blending it into a less specific appellation. Many ''négociants'' are also vineyard owners in their own right. In Burgundy wine, Burgundy for instance, ''négociants'' as Bouchard Père et Fils and Faiveley (winery), Faiveley are among the largest owners of vineyards. Well-known ''négociants'' in Burgundy are Maison Louis Jadot, Joseph Drouhin, and Vincent Girardin; in Beaujolais, Georges Duboeuf; in Provence, Mirabeau;mirabeauwine.com
/ref> and in the Rhône (wine region), Rhône region, Guigal, Jaboulet, Jean-Luc Colombo, Chapoutier, and Famille Perrin''.


See also

* Oenology * ''Vignerons indépendants de France'' * Viticulture * Wine fraud * Winemaking cooperative


References


External links

*
The new vignerons: a new generation of Spanish viticulteurs
Luis Gutiérrez, ''Wine Advocate''. {{portal bar, Drink Winemakers, Wine terminology Viticulture