Jo Pithon sells his domaine – Clos des Treilles – to Ivan Massonnat

Isabelle and Jo Pithon @ time of launch of Pithon-Paillé

2009 Salon des Vins de Loire 

Isabelle and Jo are on the right

La Revue du Vin de France reports that Jo Pithon has sold his domaine, which includes the steep sided Clos des Treilles overlooking the River Layon to 46-year-old Ivan Massonnat, a financier who is understood to be devoted fan of Chenin Blanc. 

Jo rescued and replanted the Clos, which is on the north bank of the Layon in the commune of Beaulieu-sur-Layon, with Chenin Blanc and made a number of very fine vintages of dry Chenin from this special site. 

In addition to acquiring Jo and Isabelle's domaine LARVF reports that Massonat has acquired a total of 10 hectares of Quarts de Chaume, which makes him the appellation's largest owner with some 25% of the appellation. This is includes the 0.22 hectares of Quarts de Chaume held by Jo Pithon with the rest bought by Massonnat from Pascal Laffourcade.  

LARVF reports that Massonnat is now looking for someone to run his new domaine for him. 

It is good news that Jo Pithon has sold his domaine, which will allow Jo to retire, and will mean that both the Clos des Treilles will continue and that there is the potential for some very good Quarts de Chaume to be made. 

Read the rest of the LARVF report here.  

 Les Treilles from south bank of Layon

Jacky Blot and François Chidaine – eight stars for Montlouis and Vin de France Vouvray

François Chidaine and Jacky Blot with their Vin de France Vouvray

In the latest edition of the Bettane et Desseauve Guide Jacky Blot has been promoted to five stars – the top rank, while François Chidaine has been given three stars in La Revue Vin de . 

The 5-star domaines comprise the 60 French domaines that Michel and Thierry consider to be the best in country.

Jacky and Joëlle Blot 

Report here from La Nouvelle République (5th September 2016)  

'En décrochant la cinquième étoile au guide Bettane et Desseauve, le vigneron Jacky Blot, à Montlouis, accède à la plus haute marche du podium français.

Jacky Blot a appris la nouvelle en ouvrant le célèbre guide à la couverture pourpre, jeudi matin. « On savait que ça nous pendait au nez depuis quelques années, mais quand nous avons découvert que nous avions la cinquième étoile, nous avons sauté de joie ! » 

Au Domaine de la Taille aux Loups où nous les retrouvons, deux jours après cette consécration par le célèbre guide du vin Bettane et Desseauve, l'équivalent du Michelin pour les restaurateurs, Jacky Blot et son épouse Joëlle ont encore les yeux qui brillent.'

 ••• 

Fellow producers in Montlouis and Vouvray – François and Manuéla Chidaine are also delighted that they have been recognised as three-star producers in La Revue du Vin de France. Theirs is the third domaine in Touraine to have earned three stars and the seventh in the Loire. RVF consider their three-star producers to be amongst the elite of France's domaines.

Part of François and Manuéla Chidaine's press announcement: 

'Domaine François Chidaine : 25 ans et 3 étoiles ! 

Edité par La Revue du vin de France, le guide des meilleurs vins de France, publié ce 25 août, fait entrer le Domaine François Chidaine dans le club très select des vignerons obtenant 3 étoiles.  

Le Domaine qui cultive 40 ha de vignes en biodynamie dans les appellations Montlouis-sur-Loire, Vouvray et Touraine, devient ainsi le 7ème domaine, pour l’ensemble du Val de Loire, consacré par une troisième étoile dans le guide annuel de la Revue du Vin de France. 

Créé en 1989 par François Chidaine, rapidement rejoint par son épouse Manuéla, le domaine a fêté l’an dernier ses 25 ans en présentant à la presse et à ses clients plus de 200 vins : une dizaine de cuvées parcellaires produites sur 25 millésimes. 

« Sur les derniers millésimes 2014 et 2015, François Chidaine nous a présenté des réussites exceptionnelles, parmi les plus grands chenins goûtés depuis longtemps » explique Jean-Emmanuel Simond, membre du comité de dégustation de la Revue du Vin de France, chargé de déguster les vins de Loire.' 

This elevation to three-stars comes just at the time when Manuéla and François' daughter – Alice – and son – Pierre – are joining their parents to work at the domaine.

  

Héraclès (1855): finally forced into liquidation

Emeric Sauty de Chalon, founder of Heracles (aka 1855) and its president

Fabien Hyon, managing director 

La Revue du Vin de France is reporting that the Héraclès group (1855, Châteauonline and Cave Privée) has today been forced into liquidation by the Tribunal de Paris. The recovery plan approved by the Tribunal in late November 2014 has collapsed with the withdrawal of the investor, who was underwriting the recovery plan. 

With luck justice will now finally start to snap at the heels of Emeric Sauty de Chalon and Fabien Hyon. 

The liquidation judiciaire of the entire Héraclès group has been confirmed this evening by the tenacious Bordeaux lawyer, Hélène Poulou, who represents some 300 clients defrauded by Emeric Sauty de Chalon and Fabien Hyon. 

It is certainly good news that this escroquerie is finally brought to an end. However, you have to ask why was it allowed to continue for such a long time when it was common knowledge that 1855/Héraclès failed to supply wine apparently to the tune of over €40 million. Héraclès has only been declared bankrupt because its 'mysterious' Luxembourg investor has either pulled out or proved to be a 'mirage'. Otherwise the decision of the Tribunal de Commerce de Paris to accept the 'business recovery plan' in late November 2014 gave Emeric Sauty de Chalon and Fabien Hyon official sanction to continue to fleece their clients.

I'll drink to Fabien Hyon and Emeric Sauty de Chalon spending next Christmas in a French jail – santé!        

Why was this long-running scam allowed to continue so long? The questions that need answers!

     

Domaine Huet and La Revue du Vin de France: a clarification

Sarah Hwang in discussion with Chris Kissack@

2014 Salon des Vins de Loire (above and below)

On 18th February La Revue du Vin de France published a story about Chris Kissack and I being banned by Sarah Hwang from tasting the 2013 Domaine Huet wines during the 2014 Salon des Vins de Loire. Unfortunately the words ascribed to me (highlighted below) are not mine but are from Zelda Sydney. We had both commented on Chris Kissack's post here.I was not contacted by La Revue du Vin de France.

RVF article:

 'Clash entre le domaine Huet et deux bloggers

 Published by La Revue du Vin de France: 18th February 2014

'Jim Budd explique ce banissement du stand du domaine Huet par le fait que les nouveaux propriétaires (la famille Hwang) depuis 2004, "exercent un étroit contrôle sur tout ce qui se fait chez eux, et ce qui se dit à leur propos. Ils ont peur que leur marque soit ternie. La marque a pris le pas sur le terroir".'

What I actually wrote on the Wine Doctor blog:

Initially I quoted Zelda's earlier comment. Perhaps when commenting I should have put Zelda Sydney in brackets but the comment was in quote marks and mine started – Zelda etc. 

Zelda Sydney – name now added for clarification: ‘My understanding is that the new owners bought a brand, not terroir, and that they’ll assume control over anything (winemaking, criticism…) that they think is damaging to their concept of the brand. Brand trumps terroir.’

My comment: Zelda. I think it is important to distinguish between the father Anthony Hwang and his children. Anthony bought the domaine in 2003 after the death of Gaston Huet, the previous year. Anthony was always charming, a great supporter of Noël Pinguet and my impression was that Noël was happy working with Anthony and for the first time he had a stake in the domaine. Noël’s relationship with his father-in-law, Gaston Huet, was not always easy – both have (or in Gaston’s case had) strong personalities. 

At some point Anthony handed over the running of the domaine to his children and I don’t know the history of this changeover but Noël’s relationship with the Hwangs fell apart subsequent to this handover.

I’m sure that Anthony understood full well the quality of the terroir/site, especially the Clos du Bourg and Le Mont, that he had bought.'

I have asked La Revue du Vin de France to correct this error.

Anthony Hwang@Domaine Huet during 2010 vintage

 

1855: is the Paris court hand in glove with Emeric Sauty de Chalon and Fabien Hyon asks LARVF?

Fabien Hyon – still in post 

I wouldn't trust this man even a small fraction of an inch!

Emeric Sauty de Chalon – still in post

La Revue du Vin de France asks whether fraudsters Emeric Sauty de Chalon and Fabien Hyon are being protected by the Tribunal de Commerce de Paris. 

'Scandale 1855.com : ses dirigeants sont-ils protégés ?
Pétition d’avocats, plaintes qui n’aboutissent pas, soupçons de complaisance. Depuis le placement en redressement judiciaire des sociétés du groupe de vente de vins en ligne, les faits troublants s’accumulent. Certains avocats des victimes jugent que l'attitude du tribunal de commerce de Paris est partiale.'

Amazingly Fabien Hyon and Emeric Sauty de Chalon have been allowed by the court to form a new company called BGV!

 

Read the rest here:

1855: why would anyone believe a word Emeric Sauty de Chalon says? + a new legal defeat

Emeric Sauty de Chalon: given the history of the 'fraudulent' 1855 why would 

anyone believe a word Sauty says?

Emeric Sauty de Chalon (0% credibility), founder and president of 1855, has replied here to last week's article in La Revue du Vin de France announcing the departure of Jean-Pierre Meyers as a significant investor in 1855 through Aphrodite, the holding company. Like Fabien Hyon, managing director of the 1855 group, Sauty seeks to downplay Meyers' investment. The article includes a riposte from LARVF.  

 

Trading in 1855 junk shares on Paris Bourse yesterday (13.12.12)

between 0.02€ and 0.03€ per share

1855's shares price over 5 years

Hélène Poulou, the lawyer based in Bordeaux and increasingly the scourge of Emeric Sauty de Chalon's 1855, has inflicted another defeat on the company. This time in Toulouse. Details here.

1855 – is this the end as Jean-Pierre Meyers pulls out?

Item 4 on a Google search on Jean-Pierre Meyers links him with 1855  

La Revue du Vin de France is reporting (5.12.12) that Jean-Pierre Meyers, one of 1855's principal investors is pulling his money out of 1855. Quoting a close associate of Meyers LARVF reports that around two months ago Meyers instructed his lawyers, Bredin Prat who are based on the fashionable Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in the centre of Paris, to liquidate his investment in 1855. 

The report explains that Meyers has decided that his association with 1855 with its toxic reputation is damaging his own reputation. Meyers, married to Françoise Bettencourt the daughter of L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, is on the boards of both L'Oréal and Nestlé. He is also managing director of Thelys, the Bettencourt's holding company that controls 30% of L'Oréal and 6% of Nestlé. Mention that Meyers was a long-term investor in 1855 has been expunged from his Wikipedia entry.

It cannot have been comfortable for Meyers to have seen 1855 labelled as an 'arnaque' by France2 (August 2012) or the increasing number of court judgments against 1855 in Paris, Bordeaux and Arcachon coupled with the knowledge that there are several hundred cases in process. 

Nor can Meyers have been comfortable with the complaints from some of the top châteaux of Bordeaux including the Cathiards of Smith-Haut-Lafitte who are personal friends of the Bettencourt-Meyers and furious that clients of 1855 have paid 1855 for cases of their wine which were not delivered.

Meyers may well have been embarrassed when Philippe Castéja, president of the Conseil des Grands Crus Classés en 1855, criticised 1855's 'business' practices in late July 2012. Little wonder that Sylvain Boivert, director of the Conseil greeted the LAVRF news of Meyers' quitting as 'La bonne nouvelle du jour..' (Today's good news story)! 

Another factor for Meyers may have been the founding of Abus1855 with the eventual aim of getting 1855 closed down because of its fraudulent practices. Report here on members of Abus1855 picketing a swanky 1855 Champagne function at the Intercontinental in Paris.

Little wonder that shares in 1855 are now trading at 0.02€ on the Paris Bourse valuing the company at 10.66€ million. It remains to be seen whether 1855 can attract other investors to fill the place of Meyers. At the last injection of capital into 1855, it was announced that Midi Capital associated with the Caisse d'Epargne was a new investor in 1855. It will be interesting to see how long Midi Capital or Caisse d'Epargne customers will want to be associated with an 'arnaque'!

1855 has called an EGM for 10.30 Friday 21st December in Paris at the Ibis Hotel Paris Gare du Lyon Ledru Rollin, 41/43 Avenue Ledru Rollin, 75012 Paris to vote on restucturing 1855's junk shares. I assume that members of Abus1855 will be picketing this meeting.  

Will Meyers pulling out prove to be terminal for 1855? To lose the support of one of France's leading businessmen cannot be good news despite whatever gloss Fabien Hyon wants to put on Meyers' departure. See Hyon's comments below. It confirms that close association with 1855 can be a truly toxic experience.

••

Earlier today I emailed the following questions to Fabien Hyon, managing director of the 1855 group of companies:

Dear Fabien Hyon

I have been asked by Decanter to write a news report based on the news (LAVF – 5.12.12) that Jean-Pierre Meyers is reported to be withdrawing the capital he has invested in 1855.

Could you confirm that M.Meyers is withdrawing his capital?

Also has 1855 been able to find other investors to replace M.Meyers and will 1855 and its associated companies be able to continue to trade without his support and capital?

Fabien Hyon's response: 

Although the last time you asked for information, you decided not to take it into account as it did not fit in your "story telling", you may be interested in relating some facts and figures regarding this matter.

1) Jean-Pierre Meyers was not a shareholder of 1855 but a shareholder of the founder's holding.

2) Jean-Pierre Meyers was a minority shareholder of the founder's holding and, consequently, has never been a main source of funding for 1855. 

The RVF figures — that they have not bothered checking — do not relate to any reality and are widely over-evaluated.

3) Said otherwise, should Jean-Pierre Meyers have been of any type of "guarantee" or some real "source" of fundings, 1855 would have never gone through the tensions that you have witnessed relating Bordeaux Primeurs delayed deliveries.

4) 1855 still benefits from three main sources of fundings :

- its profitability, confirmed for S1 2012,

- access to the stock market,

- the founder's holding financial standing

5) The exit of Jean-Pierre Meyers from the founder's holding has not generated any weakening of the 1855's financial structure. As a matter of fact, it has been an opportunity to reinforce the financial structure of the 1855 group. It is a pleasure to announce that a group of new shareholders has join the founder's holding: they are authentic entrepreneurs, strongly involved in the development of 1855 for the coming years.

Fabien Hyon

Jacky Blot@Paris + Bruno Curassier: Portes Ouvertes – le 9 et 10 juin

 

Jacky Blot in his cellars@Montlouis 

Le samedi le 2 et le dimanche le 3, Jacky Blot – Domaine de la Taille aux Loups (Montlouis and Vouvray) and Domaine de la Butte (Bourgueil) will be at Salon de la Revue du Vin de France, Palais Brongniart, Place de la Bourse.  

Patrimoine, Bruno Curassier, Domaine de la Grange, Bléré

Les 09 et 10 juin 2012 : CAVES OUVERTES de 10 heures à 19 heures, au Domaine de la Grange, Bléré

1855 (1855.com): devastating article from RVF

The start of Jérôme Baudouin's devastating file on 1855

The February 2012 edition of La Revue du Vin de France carries a detailed six page article by Jérôme Baudouin on 1855 (1855.com) charting its turbulent history and failure over many years to either deliver all the wines its clients order or to be a financial viable business. 

Baudouin's is a shocking portrait of a delinquent company with a voracious appetite for capital. Over the years much of this capital has been supplied by Jean-Pierre Meyers – Baudouin estimates that Meyers has 'invested' between 8-10 million euros in this quasi-Ponzi scheme. Another significant investor is Meyers' wife, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, daughter of Liliane Bettencourt the L'Oréal heiress. Bettencourt-Meyers is cited as putting in one million euros in August 2008 into Aphrodite, 1855's holding company. 

I can't see RVF's February edition being on the Bettencourt-Meyers breakfast table or in their drawing room. Baudouin says that the Bettencourt-Meyers (B-Ms) are upset by 1855's chronic failure to deliver their clients' wine. I assume that the B-Ms are as upset for 1855's angry and frustrated clients as they are for the damage the association with 1855 does to their reputations. Baudouin suggests that Meyers, who declined the opportunity to comment, is now seeking to distance himself from 1855. If this is the case this may explain why on 22nd November 2011 Emeric de Sauty de Chalon launched the 1855 Junk Club (le Club Actionnaires de 1855). Shares in 1855 are currently trading at 0.07€ a share. Over the past five years they hit a high of 4.40 a share and a low of 0.02. If Meyers has decided that enough is enough, the 1855 Junk Club is unlikely to provide enough capital to keep 1855.com afloat. 

Fabien Hyon, CEO of the 1855 group, does admit that mistakes have been made and says things will be better in the future. Unfortunately this is a standard refrain from both Hyon and de Chalon – promises but no improvement. If anything the number of complaints appear to be rising and not just for undelivered Bordeaux en primeur but for current wines that ought to be in stock.

Last October Hyon promised Decanter that the 2008s en primeur would be delivered before the end of 2011:

 'In an email to Decanter, Hyon said he was confident that all orders would be fulfilled.

‘As far as the 2008 Bordeaux primeurs are concerned, they are delivered from June through December 2011. Deliveries have started and will take place until the end of the year. All our employees work hard on making sure we do not experience further delays.

‘Regarding the 2009 and 2010 Bordeaux primeurs measures have been taken to improve quality of service since 2010. This will ensure that everything will get better.’

Initially 1855 was due to deliver 2008 Bordeaux en primeur in June 2011. It is now clear that a significant number of 1855's clients are still awaiting delivery of their 2008s with some starting legal action to obtain their orders. It is clear that Hyon's word is as worthless as 1855's junk bonds.

The RVF article ought to be lethal for 1855. Unfortunately RVF's circulation may not be sufficiently large, especially as a significant number of their customers like outside France. Also RVF damaged its credibility by the shamefully poor article about on-line retailers it published in its October 2011 edition.   

** 

See here a video of Jérôme Baudouin outlining 1855's failings.

'Management' and leading shareholders of 1855 

Emeric Sauty de Chalon and Fabien Hyon are the senior 'management' team of 1855 (1855.com, 1855.con). Thierry Maincent was an administrateur and one of the directeur général délégués until he resigned his posts for personal reasons on 30th September 2010. Businessman Jean-Pierre Meyers, who is on the boards of L'Oréal and Nestlé, is a long-term shareholder of 1855.  Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers, the daughter of L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, is also an investor in 1855.