France 500 fortunes, wine version
Is wine a path to riches in France? The two-sided market that is French wine today, which sees some wines pre-release at $750 a bottle while other winemakers go out of business, has in fact made some of the richest people in France.
Fully 31 of the 500 richest people in France have a hand in the wine (or spirits) biz according to according to Challenges magazine dated July 13. Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH is the richest man in France according to the annual survey, with his 48% stake in the luxury goods company valued at over 17 billion euros.
Some other people on the list own chateaus, such as Serge Dassault and Francois Pinault, but I didn’t include them here since they made their fortune in other industries (aviation and retailing, in those two examples). Also, two barrel makers are on the list (Jean Francois and Henri de Pracomtal) but I didn’t include them either.
Sometimes the magazine includes “and family” but for the sake of brevity, I just include the individual.
Individual or family (500 rank), brands/company: net worth (millions of euros)
Bernard Arnault (1), LVMH–Moet Hennessey: 17,205
Patrick Ricard (26), Pernod-Ricard: 1,278
Pierre Castel (28), Castel Freres: 1,200
Chandon-Moet and Hennessy families (45), LVMH: 905
Dominique Herlard-Dubreuil (53) Remy Cointreau: 726
Jean-Claude Rouzaud (88) Louis Roederer champagne: 375
Bernard Magrez (96) Pape-Clement: 335
Eric de Rothschild (100) Lafite Rothschild: 311
Corinne Montzelopoulos (116), Chateau Margaux: 260
Nonancourt family (146), Laurent Perrier champagne: 202
Paul-Francois Vranken (191), Vranken champagne: 154
Albert and Robert Cohen-Skalli (194), Les Vins Skalli: 150
Philippine de Rothschild (194), Baron Phillippe de Rothschild: 150
Pierre Cointreau (233), Remy Cointreau: 127
Michel Reybier (242), Domaines Reybier: 120
Lurton family (276), Andre Lurton Vignobles: 100
Bollinger family (310), Bollinger champagne: 90
Jacques Marnier-Lapostolle (324), Grand Marnier: 85
Antoinette Coury (329), Grand Marnier: 83
Carol Duval-Leroy (336), Duval-Leroy champagne: 80
J. Helfrish and G. Bimmerle (336), Grands Chais de France: 80
Bruno Paillard (355), Boizel Chanoine champagne: 78
Christian Moueix (374), Antoine Moueix et fils: 72
Gerard Perse (376), Chateau Pavie: 70
J-H Delon and G. d’Alton (402), Ch Leoville Las Cases: 65
Jean-Michel Cazes (426), Ch Lynch Bage: 60
Jean Pol-Roger and C. de Billy (426), Pol-Roger: 60
Didier Cuvelier (457), Leoville-Poyferre: 55
Leroy and Villaine families (477), Romanee-Conti: 54
tags: wine | French wine | high net worth individuals
On July 17th, 2006 at 5:50 pm ,Steve wrote:
Vranken? OK, they also own Pommery, Heidsieck and Lafitte as well.
On March 2nd, 2008 at 5:30 pm ,Dr Vino’s wine blog » Blog Archive » Paris/France wine roundup wrote:
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