by Hervé Lalau
The French wine company The Castel Group have purchased the shipper Sautejeau-Beauquin. The latest acquisition controls 450 Loire Valley growers, who collectively produce 25% of the total volumes of Muscadet and Gros Plant sold. Sautejeau-Beauquin’s yearly turnover
of 32 million bottles is worth €39 million, most of which is sold in French supermarkets. The other 20% is exported.
The addition of Sautejeau-Beauquin to Castel’s portfolio gives the company alarge, 70,000 hectolitre production plant, a new bottling line and 5,000 square metres of air conditioned storage space. The purchase also includes the Domaines de L’Hyvernière and Domaine de la Botinière, which together have 150 hectares of vine in Muscadet de Sèvre-de-Maine.
Founded as a wine trading company in Bordeaux in 1949, Castel has grown by acquisition since its inception. Its last major purchase was the British high street retailer Oddbins, in 2002.
