Bordeaux-Champagne : propriété ou négoce ?//Bordeaux-Champagne: estate or business ?

Résumé En Fr

Few wine growing regions are as different from one another as Bordeaux and Champagne are. «Bordeaux» implies a notion of «château» (i.e. an estate) whereas Champagne could be considered as a commercial brand. They appear to have two different business as well as geographical strategies, which confer a deep sense of identity on each wine-growing region. Through the examples of communication, marketing as well as the functioning of their respective economies (and the consequences on the development of specific rural landscapes) we can grasp the importance of the contrasts between the two Systems. Rather than just comparing the two rural landscapes, we will try to grasp as precisely as possible the interactions between business and production so as to learn more about the special natures of these two prestigious wine-growing regions. The very special nature of Bordeaux emerges from the comparison between those two logics (thanks to a new conception of wine growing which is «vin de propriété» i.e. wine grown within the estate). This logic diverges from that of «cru» (i.e. «local wine» which implies a larger wine growing area than the «château») which as been adopted by many regions. The «cru» System follows the business logic of Champagne. Nevertheless, the example of Bordeaux — which has become more and more fashionable these days around the world, let alone in France — is more mysterious than it appears to be.

Peu de vignobles dans le monde sont aussi différents que celui de Bordeaux et celui de Champagne. D'un côté le château, de l'autre la marque commerciale, nous apparaissent comme deux logiques économiques et géographiques totalement opposées mais qui confèrent aussi à chaque vignoble son identité profonde. À travers les cas de la communication et du marketing mais aussi du fonctionnement des économies viticoles respectives et des conséquences de celles-ci sur l'élaboration de paysages ruraux spécifiques (surtout dans le cas bordelais) on peut rapidement mesurer l'ampleur des contrastes entre les deux systèmes. Il ressort de cette confrontation entre les deux logiques la grande originalité du modèle bordelais de viticulture par rapport à un très grand nombre d'autres vignobles de cru qui fonctionnent tous peu ou prou selon la logique champenoise de marque commerciale.