The Buyer | How to explore Bordeaux's La Place system with new Areni podcasts

Tell us about your new podcast series that looks to go behind the scenes at the working of the Bordeaux wine market?

Our new podcast entitled Inside La Place de Bordeaux is a seven-episode series aiming to decode the world’s most famous wine marketplace.

There are plenty of great wine podcasts out there, but we really wanted to create a series that delves into the complexity of the fine wine world works from various angles, and dive deep into what is needed to succeed, now and tomorrow.

La Place de Bordeaux was the perfect place to start, given its history and its current influence on the world of fine wine, one that goes well beyond Bordeaux. Despite its importance, its workings are complex and shrouded in mystery, and wine students and professionals alike struggle to understand this significant institution. Some even wonder if the institution is obsolete. But what would the future of fine wine be without La Place de Bordeaux?

We wanted a series that would explore La Place’s workings, culture, and how and why it came to have such an outsized impact on the world of fine wine while also reflecting on its role in fine wine distribution, past, present, and future. We wanted to create a series that was both entertaining and informative, but also one which would be appreciated by wine students and professionals for years to come.

Why are you looking to focus in on Bordeaux and how it works in particular?

I believe La Place de Bordeaux has played an important role in defining what fine wine is globally and, in opening itself to wines from beyond Bordeaux, has facilitated the creation of a transnational fine wine category. International wineries want to work with La Place de Bordeaux not only for their impressive and efficient distribution network, but also for the achievement that it represents, and the status it confers to their wines.

Many wineries across the world are considering moving into La Place de Bordeaux, and we wanted to give them a global overview of how La Place works. La Place doesn’t work for everybody, and it seems that every success story on the Place (from Bordeaux and beyond) has a lot in common, so we wanted to explore that in more concrete details. Understanding these key points for successful distribution is germane to every person dealing with fine wine, and I strongly believe most of them will be relevant even to those outside the Place de Bordeaux trading system.

I also believe that La Place de Bordeaux is enjoying an important moment given the current context. The En-Primeur system has been questioned for many years, but there are good reasons to believe that the 2024 campaign is going to be a crucial one, and that’s one of the topics we explore in the second episode of the series. The En-Primeur campaign constitutes only one of the key elements of the Place, but it’s an important and symbolic one, so its outcome will definitively impact the world of fine wine moving forward.

What topics and issues are you going to cover in the series and why?

Our main goal with this series of podcasts is threefold:

* allow wine students all over the world to understand this unique distribution system (very seldom taught in certification programmes like the WSET) and what’s at stake in fine wine distribution today.

* give perspectives to the important number of wineries currently thinking about going through La Place and/or retailers/distributors questioning the system on what it takes to be successful within that distribution system.

* analyse the role of the Place de Bordeaux in the future of fine wine and how it is likely to impact commerce way beyond Bordeaux

The main questions we answer are as follows:

What is La Place? What kind of actors make the Place de Bordeaux? What are their respective roles and objectives?
Is La Place just about fine wine? The same as En-Primeur?
What is a négociant? What is a courtier?
What happens during the En-Primeur campaign? Why does it matter for the global fine wine world?
How can La Place successfully distribute wines all over the world?
How does La Place build and manages a network of distributors all around the world?
What are the strength and weaknesses of this distribution system? What is there to gain, or to lose, in going through La Place?
Will my wines be more successful if I were to distribute them through La Place?
How will La Place influence fine wine distribution in the future?

Who can people look forward to hearing from in the series?

From the beginning we wanted to propose a multi-angle approach and compare and contrast perspectives from people who might have divergent interests, so the listeners can make up their own minds about what they think of the system and what it means to them. We have been talking to all parties involved: courtiers and négociants, châteaux in Bordeaux, international estates going through the Place, iconic global wineries that do not go through la Place, international wine critics and importers and distributors in major markets: France, US, UK, Japan, Hong Kong, and China.

We have been very fortunate to interview amazing professionals, including: Jane Anson, Mathieu Chadronnier, head of the CVBG; Christopher Lynch, chief executive of Opus One;Amaric de Portal managing director, Vente á la Propriété;Mathieu Jullien managing director, LVMH Vins d’exception: Yquem, Cheval Blanc, Colgin and Clos des Lambrays; Max Lalondrelle, head of fine wine and Bordeaux buyer, Berry Bros and Rudd; Jeremy Stockman, managing director of Watson cellars in Hong Kong; Guillaume Pouthier of Chateau Carmes Haut Brion; Axel Heinz of Chateau Lascombes; Vianney Gravereaux at Ornellaia and Masseto; Philippe Newlin, fine wine buyer, wine.com; and Ronan Laborde, président Union des Grands Crus.

You are looking to get a wide perspective of views, not just from winemakers/ producers but also commentators and journalists.

Yes. Like many topics in the wine world, nothing is black or white, the truth lies in nuances, and Bordeaux offers a lot of nuances certainly. It was then paramount to collect different views and opinions, to propose a balanced analysis.

Who do you hope the podcast is of interest to?

Everyone involved in – or studying the - making, trading, and pouring at the top end of the wine market, and every winery or wine region wanting to play in that space. In our industry, we love studying and talking about wine itself, but little time is given to understanding distribution, and it’s such a key factor to success.

You are looking to combine the podcasts with also written material for your members. What are you doing?

As mentioned, La Place is a complex and evolving system. We have done an exemplary job articulating complex notions in the podcast but we also know that part of our audience will want to go deeper in their understanding, or will want to have access to a short, to-the point analysis cause they might not have the time to listen to the whole series.

Therefore, each episode is accompanied by two complementary support materials to enable those to further explore.

Following our classic Areni Global interview format, In Conversation With are transcripts of the key interviews we conducted, where we speak to people with first-hand experience. Our inaugural interviewee is Mathieu Chadronnier, president of the CVBG, one of Bordeaux's leading négociant house and our partner for this series. These conversations are accessible to everyone.

Areni Global members can also access a recap article of the podcast, a sort of “flash card” recapping the five main things to remember and the main takeaways from the episode. We’ve built it as a tool for wine students of all levels and for wineries and professionals looking to work with La Place de Bordeaux.

Do you have plans to look at other regions and issues as part of a future podcast series?

We have another ongoing series, called The Responsibility Series. This series allow us to explore the specific responsibilities of those who work in fine wine, as we strongly believe that fine wine can no longer be defined solely by its taste or its terroir, but also by its leadership values and ethos. They are quite dense episodes, so publish two episodes a year within that series.

Our next round of exploration will be about viticulture, and I would love to have a limited series on that topic and explore what it will take to produce fine wine in the future through this format.

What are the main other objectives for Areni in 2024?

For the last 18 months, we had an important focus on distribution. We’ve done this exploration on La Place de Bordeaux and we have also covered the topic of growth and scale, and we will be looking at the secondary markets in the trimester to come.

We are also finishing our next white paper, Rethinking Education: Shaping the Future of Our Trade, that will be published in June. We wanted to explore the discrepancies between what we like to teach and learn in the wine world (and we love to learn about the product) and the knowledge and skills that we need to successful trade wine today. It’s been a fascinating journey, and I can’t wait to share our conclusions!

From September onward we will shift the focus back to viticulture, and what it takes to make fine wine today and tomorrow.

Can you explain the membership scheme and what you need to do be a member?

Everyone is welcome, and the only thing you must do is to chose between an associate membership or a full membership. The associate membership allows you to get access to our white paper publications and our members events whereas the full membership gives you access to the full array of our publications (including our market reports focusing on fine wine consumers in major markets), our members only-events and our online workshops, where members can collaborate with their peers from all over the world on key issues. Click here to find out more.

* You can access and download the Areni podcast series on La Place de Bordeaux here. Episode one is available here.