Notice to Bordeaux winegrowers, great châteaux are launching a call for projects to lead to skills mentoring to help their more modest peers to overcome the difficulties of everyday life to project themselves into the future. A solidarity initiative for the collective, which is only waiting for applications from winegrowers to support and properties ready to help.
Who will be the 4 AVenir Winegrowers followed from April 2026 to March 2027? An iconic team that would make any wine lover green with envy, the four grands crus calling on Bordeaux winemakers this winter to submit their applications online to benefit from personalized mentoring is intended to be a genuine signal of hope to tear the veil of difficulties planting on the beginning of 2026. Without blingbling, the châteaux Cheval Blanc (Saint-Émilion), Lafite Rothschild (premier grand cru classé in 1855 from Pauillac), Petrus (Pomerol) and Yquem (premier grand cru classé supérieur in 1855 from Sauternes) are calling on Gironde winegrowers to come forward if they need technical, strategic and economic support and support to help them carry out projects that are as structuring as they are sustainable for them, while being inspiring for the entire Gironde sector.
Referring to the future of the vineyard and to future generations, the AVenir Winegrowers initiative will select 4 winegrowers, i.e. a follow-up by each property, on the criteria of viability of the project presented, its uniqueness, its innovative character, its environmental approach and the tasting of the wines of each pre-selected candidate. Each of the four selected winners will benefit from a year of follow-up with the teams in the field that selected him, to carry out a tailor-made diagnosis and call on external experts if necessary. This approach has already been tested in 2025 with four Bordeaux winegrowers: Fabien Lapeyre, Antoine and Étienne Carteyron in Entre-deux-Mers, Guillaume Pouvaret in Côtes-de-Bourg and Mathieu Eyhéromouno in Haut-Médoc, who testify in a video of a process of personalized support and collective accelerator of about fifty hours/year of skills mentoring (expression of the terroirs, communication of the profession and promotion of the work...).
Better prioritizing your actions
"Thinking together allows us to gain collective intelligence. Through the richness of the exchanges, the expertise of the speakers and the very concrete approach to the subjects, Vignerons AVenir is a program applicable to the realities on the ground, to take a step back, to help better prioritize one's actions to gain in efficiency and sustainability," summarizes Olivia Gagey, the secretary general of Vignerons AVenir, the linchpin of the program, who points out that "it is also an opportunity to forge links between winegrowers from the same territory".
The collective is at the heart of this solidarity and unprecedented initiative. "Vignerons AVenir is a concrete way to provide support to talented winemakers in our territories, so that they feel encouraged and supported in their projects," the spokespersons of the four partner properties jointly explain to Vitisphere. "We have the duty and the responsibility to commit ourselves, and to support, as far as we can, those who carry out relevant actions to ensure the sustainability of their farms," they say, adding that "this program is intended to bring together other neighboring fields wishing to put their expertise at the service of the territory. The more we are, the more we will be able to multiply the personalized support and create a real impetus for the Bordeaux wine industry. Notice to candidates in the vineyard, winegrowers looking for support as volunteer properties for the collective.
Source: Vitisphere, By Alexandre Abellan On January 13, 2026
