MarkE wrote:A related question: Why the designation of négociant-éleveur for one who buys grapes and makes wine, since éleveur seems to indicate only the élevage, which is what a "regular" négociant does? Wouldn't it make more sense to call such an operation négociant-vinifieur or négociant-vinifieur-éleveur?
Well, "regular" negociants might not do that, right? In Burgundy at least I think it's fairly common for negociants to buy finished wine. So a negociants might be buying grapes (which they might or might not have some input on the growing of), might be buying wine which they then do the elevage on (this would be the Dominique Laurent method, with the negociant putting their stamp on the wine that way), or might buy finished barrels of wine.