The tradition of assembling wise men and leading citizens into councils ( conseils ) to make important decisions for the good of the commune goes back in France to the Middle Ages. The debates in council, enriched by the differing points of view expressed, thus became a unique tool of reflection and decision.

This principle inspired the formation of the GCVB: in 1952 Henri Martin, a key figure in the Bordeaux wine industry and then President of the powerful Conseil Interprofessionel du Vin de Bordeaux, had the idea of gathering the various regional brotherhoods (Confrèreries , Compagnons du Bon Temps , etc.) and other organizations promoting Bordeaux wines into a new and separate entity. Each of these 16 brotherhoods was an association of wine growers and traders that undertook to maintain local tradition, to defend and promote its wines, and to communicate their own winemaking principles.

The feat that Monsieur Martin accomplished was to stitch together these independent brotherhoods into a new entity called the Grand Conseil du Vin de Bordeaux (GCVB). Completing this federation took time, but in 1975 the GCVB became a non-profit organization under French law with the authority to represent all the appellations of the various Bordeaux wine-producing regions without distinction, both in France and abroad.

The current President of the GCVB is Michel-Pierre Massonie who also serves as the Grand Maître, President of the Grand Conseil du Vin de Bordeaux.

 

 

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