Pandora Mistry from Business France, that helped devise and bring together the Bordeaux producers for the evening, was able to explain just why these events are so important and highly relevant for the vignerons that take part and hopefully the buyers and importers who attend: “In today’s very difficult climate, people want to just work with people. It’s a wonderful occasion for French producers to sit next to top UK buyers and to have these intimate closed conversations, to look them in the eye. These relationships will last into the next five or ten years.”
First though, a little introduction below to the producers who showcased their wines at the dinner:
The Producers
The Bordeaux producers who took part in the match making night with Business France and UK importers
Nicolas Boissonneau, Vignobles Boissonneau
Nicolas Boissonneau, Vignobles Boissonneau
A sixth-generation member of the Boissonneau family, Nicolas Boissonneau is co-owner and sales director. The family says its vineyards in Bordeaux’s Entre-deux-Mers have been certified biodynamic since 2021. At the dinner, he showed a white Sauvignon Blanc based wine, Château Moulin de Ferrand 2025. It was paired with the cured gilthead bream which was beautifully served.
Boissonneau says he is looking for an importer who “could share the values of the winery and something we could share with them for the next few decades.”
It was clear that his wine was warmly received across the table.
Antoine Artigue, Vignobles Artigue
Antoine Artigue, Vignobles Artigue
Château La Guillaumette is part of a family wine business run by brothers Antoine and Alexandre Artigue. Their history reaches back to 1895, and the family describes its approach as organic.
Château La Guillaumette 2025, an Entre-deux-Mers white, was one of two wines served with the cured bream. Artigue was keen to challenge the familiar image of Bordeaux: “We can produce many different wines. There are a lot of independent winemakers in Bordeaux many are small like us and it’s important to tell again and again that 90% are small that we produce authentic fruity wines.”
Valentine Picant, Château Hostens-Picant
Valentine Picant, Château Hostens-Picant
Valentine Picant was showing the white wines for which Château Hostens-Picant, in Sainte Foy, is best known. Its 2019 Cuvée des Demoiselles was served with the Cornish crab raviolo.
For Picant, the dinner was a chance to demonstrate her wines’ appeal to restaurants: “I’m looking for a distributor in England and I want to understand the English market and think my wines are very good for the trade, in Paris we work with Michelin restaurants so I like to show our gastronomic whites I always show by vintage.”
Maison Raymond dates to 1850, when the Raymond family began growing vines at Château de Lagarde in Saint-Laurent-du-Bois, in Entre-deux-Mers. Lionel Raymond took over from his father Jean-Pierre in 2000, expanding the business and converting the vineyards to organic farming.
Its Hommage 2025, from Côtes de Bordeaux Saint Macaire, was served alongside the 2019 Hostens-Picant with the Cornish crab raviolo. Both dealt beautifully with the rich yet delicate ravioli.
Olivier Fleury, Vignobles Olivier Fleury
Olivier Fleury owner and winemaker at Vignobles Olivier Fleury
Olivier Fleury is the owner and winemaker at Vignobles Olivier Fleury in southern Bordeaux. Fleury traces his family roots to the wine trade as far back as the fifteenth century. He brought two sweet white wines and was keen to build on longstanding British connections.
“England is one of our main targets because we have had wines here since my great grandfather. I know the market well and I am trying to find new people to work with me,” he said.
He served their Semillon based Château Les Roques Loupiac 2017, with the cheese selection.
Guillaume Gonfrier is the third generation of Vignobles Gonfrier, the family business founded by his grandfather Paul in 1962 with just three hectares of vines. Today the group works across more than 1,000 hectares in Bordeaux, with Château de Marsan at its heart.
At the dinner the predominantly Merlot based Odyssea 2022 was paired with the cheese selection.
The Wines
A selection of wines tasted during the dinner
Importers' Views
With Charles Taylor Wines, Coterie Holdings, In the Room Wine, Dellavita Wines and The Clear Wine Company around the table, the Bordeaux producers had several different routes to market to explore. The importers, in turn, also had a wide variety of wines to taste and the chance to discuss what in particular they are looking for from Bordeaux with the respective producers over the dinner.
Hosting the dinner was Emma Baudry representative of Premières Côtes de Bordeaux, Entre deux Mer - Sainte Foy:“Wine is about people and sharing it with people. In this part of the region we have good wine to share. The wine growers work hard and it is here that you find good value for money wines.”
Louisa de Faye Perkins of Charles Taylor Wines was able to explain why finding a match in today’s market is far from straightforward and there are challenges for producers and importers alike.
“It’s very interesting to talk about the market and to talk about the wines that are competing against the best, cheapest South African, South American wines in the market.”
The Business France dinners was an opportunity to bring UK wine buyers and importers together with producers from Premier Côtes de Bordeaux- Entre deux Mers, Sainte Foy
Paul Bolt of In the Room Wine had a different brief; finding wines unavailable elsewhere in the UK for his client events.
“My role is to bring clients to the bank and I do that through wine. We ship wines no one else has shipped in the UK,” he stressed.
For Bolt exclusivity was part of the appeal to his guests and he was keen to find some unusual gems at the dinner.
The Clear Wine Company is an independent wine agency founded by William Heijbroek. He was looking for French artisan producers to add to its restaurant portfolio next year. There was already one promising connection: “I’ve made lovely introduction to a lovely lady here and her great wines that’s a great start.”
Husband and wife team Dale and Ella Upton-Clarke from Dellavita Wines, a small UK wine importer founded last year, have been to similar events to these before.
Ella said: “These are very valuable opportunities to really get to know the people [behind the wines].”
The couple said they were there to find lasting wine business relationships that can be sustained in the long term.
One dinner cannot settle questions of price, distribution or whether a wine will sell. But it can give both sides a reason to keep talking. Producers wanted lasting partnerships; buyers wanted wines that would earn their place in a crowded market.
The real test will come with the follow-up calls and orders. For now, there was enough chemistry around the table to suggest that these first dates could lead to lasting partnerships; which was, in the end, all that Business France and the guests at the dinner could have hoped for.
* You can find out more about Premier Côtes de Bordeaux- Entre deux Mers, Sainte Foy here.
* You can find out more about Business France here.
