Q&A: Sébastien Bouvet-Labruyère, CEO, Anagram

Last month Labruyère Développement & Industries acquired the disgraced bulk wine merchant Raphaël Michel and renamed it Anagram. Now, the family-owned company is setting out to regain its position as the European leader in bulk wine. Here, its CEO explains what sets Anagram apart, and what its future holds.

Sébastien Bouvet-Labruyère, CEO, Anagram

What’s Anagram’s mission statement?

Anagram is a blending and trading wine company, specialising in French bulk wine from the Rhône Valley, Languedoc, Southwest France and Provence. We took over the assets of Raphaël Michel, which filed for bankruptcy last year after being hit by a trust crisis following fraud charges. This is a new company, with new shareholders and senior management, and is part of the family owned Labruyère Group, based in Mâcon. Our mission is to sell bulk wine with a high level of rigor, quality service and transparency.

How will you rebuild trust after the scandal?

Anagram is a separate entity from Raphaël Michel. The ongoing criminal case doesn’t affect us. For suppliers, we have built a plan to repay the money that Raphaël Michel could not honor. Not losing money was the first step to building new relationships with suppliers. For the 2018 harvest we have secured more than 120,000hl of wine. Customers need to be confident in the quality of our products. We ensure the best traceability and transparency practices whether it be documents or analysis reports. Our main site in Piolenc is IFS and BRC certified and audited every year, and our PDO or ‘Cru’ wines are controlled by relevant bodies.

What makes your company stand out?

We have strong partnerships with suppliers and benefit from the knowledge of our winemakers in the Rhône Valley, Provence, Languedoc and SW of France. We have a capacity of 80,000hl, state-of-the-art equipment and a laboratory with IRTF analysis and HPLC for ethyl-phénols, éthyl-gaïacol, and Pall tangential filtration. We can provide large quantity blending to the highest specification, efficient logistic services and consistent quality. We sell only bulk wine, not bottled wine. We are not competing any of our customers.

Which markets do you believe are currently the most buoyant for bulk wine exports?

Outside France, the traditional European markets are the most important for us, especially the Northern regions –Germany, Belgium, Switzerland. Rosé is not just a passing-trend, and not only Côtes de Provence. It has become a real stable market in North America. We are also working on some emerging markets in Asia, for example India.

What are the biggest challenges currently facing the bulk wine industry?
The biggest challenge is to meet the growing safety and quality standards asked by customers and to secure supply at good price, in an industry which is now global. Flexibility in logistic, treatments and storage optimisation are also key factors for success.

What are your top priorities for 2019?

After 15 months of turmoil, our priority is to get back to business with our customers in France and Europe. We have already secured a great deal of our needs with historical suppliers. 2018 could be a challenging vintage, and in some areas there are concerns about quality. That’s why the market needs a company like Anagram to match supply and demand. We want to enlarge our range to include premium blends from the Rhône and Languedoc, either generic or PDO. We want to target more niche customers. Lastly, we want to pursue the international development of our business and reach new customers in Europe, North America and Asia, and will be at the IBWSS in San Francisco next July.