Georges Duboeuf

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Georges Duboeuf (born 1933 in Crêches-sur-Saône, Saône-et-Loire) is the founder of Les Vins Georges Duboeuf, one of the largest and best-known wine merchants in France. The company is known especially for its popularization and production of Beaujolais wines, leading to Duboeuf's nicknames of le roi du Beaujolais (the king of Beaujolais) or sometimes pape du Beaujolais (Pope of Beaujolais).

Early life and career

Duboeuf was born on a Good Friday, April 14, 1933 in Crèches, near the village of Chaintré, in the Pouilly-Fuissé appellation of France. Pouilly-Fuissé consists of five villages, southwest of the commune of Mâcon, in the central French wine-making region of Burgundy. Duboeuf was raised on a small farm, where his family owned a few acres of Chardonnay vines. His father died when he was very young, and his uncle and older brother, Roger, took over the business.

Duboeuf helped on the family vineyard growing up, cranking the manual grape crusher when he was just six. At the age of 18, he began delivering wine on his bicycle from producers to local restaurants. He began bottling Beaujolais to meet a customer's commission, and went on to form a syndicate of 45 local growers, the Ecrin Mâconnais-Beaujolais. The organization fell apart due to squabbling, and Duboeuf became a négociant in 1964, when he founded Les Vins Georges Duboeuf.

He married his wife Rolande in the early 1960s, and has two children, Fabienne and Franck.

Les Vins Georges Duboeuf

Duboeuf's business produces more than 2,5 million cases of wine annually. He is almost single-handedly responsible for popularizing the annual Beaujolais nouveau phenomenon, and has won awards for his wines. His wine labels are easily recognizable by their use of colorful flower images and the distinctive Duboeuf insignia.

Georges Duboeuf still heads the company as of 2007, at the age of 74, and his son Franck Duboeuf is considered his heir apparent.

See also

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