Head of Beaujolais wine body quits

Sébastien Coquard, president of Beaujolais ODG, has resigned from his post in anger at the “unacceptable” treatment he claims to have endured from the region’s winemakers.

Sébastien Cocquard (Photo: Linkedin)

Coquard announced his departure from the governing body on Friday 16 October, claiming in a statement that “conditions are not being met” to allow him to carry out his work.

He had been on the receiving end of “too many unacceptable statements” and a lack of respect, he is reported in French media to have said.

The Beaujolais region recently witnessed a tense truce between winemakers and merchants over the pricing of this year’s vintage after street protests from vignerons worried about being under-rewarded for their work.

The region was also up in arms in January when a number of Beaujolais’ most prestigious wineries split from the overall Union Viticole du Beaujolais (UVB), which had represented the entirety of the region’s wineries for 60 years.

Sébastien Coquard, who was elected president in July 2014, had been due to remain as president of the body for several more months before elections in Spring 2016.

Vice-president Frédéric Laveur is now acting president until the elections take place, french wine site Vitisphere reports.