Business Law

Wine law

Jean-Pierre Karsenty, founder of JP Karsenty in 1955, has made wine law one of the historical activities of the firm. 

At the beginning, the firm mainly worked for cooperative wineries (as well as unions and federations of cooperative wineries) and for wine merchants in the Languedoc region, assisting them on a daily basis and defending them before the courts.

Over time , JP Karsenty's expertise has strengthened and developed with a diversified clientele (ODG, inter-branch organizations, private wine cellars, cooperative groups, etc...) and has extended to all wine-producing regions.

The Wine Law team, headed by Nathalie Tourrette and Matthieu Chirez, has a wide range of skills and works in a cross-functional manner, if necessary, with the support of other divisions of the firm, which allows it to understand and manage various issues, both upstream and downstream of the wine world.

JP Karsenty is a member of the International Wine Law Association and the French Association of Rural Law.

Ranking Décideurs Magazine 2022 – Marketing, Communication et Digital

Wines and spirits - Excellent

Legal works in this area

  • Cooperation: relations between cooperative and its members, governance, rules for remuneration, structuring, drafting of rules of procedure, commitment form, rules specific to producer organizations
  • Agricultural companies: constitution, modification of articles of association, shareholder agreement, withdrawal of shareholder
  • Agricultural unions and inter-branch organizations : articles of association, internal regulations, representativeness, contributions
  • Geographical indicators (PDO and PGI): protection, specifications, conflict
  • Wine brands: regulations, conflicts, counterfeiting and unfair competition
  • Regulation of wines and spirits
  • Labelling of wines and spirits
  • Compliance with Evin law
  • Marketing of grapes, wines and spirits: grape sales contract, wine distribution contract, commercial negotiations
  • Deception, misleading commercial practices, fraud and falsification
  • Controls of the Regional Directorates of Economy, Employment, Labor and Solidarity (DREETS) and their follow-up ;
  • Indirect taxes and customs law: material accounting, mandatory wine declarations, wine registers, controls
  • FranceAgriMer disputes: internal appeals, hierarchical appeals, appeals
  • Transfer of farms

Track records

  • Defense of a wine merchant prosecuted before the criminal court for misleading consumers,
  • Representation of a union of cooperative wineries before the Court in the context of a dispute related to the early withdrawal of an associated cooperative winery
  • Updating the articles of association of an inter-branch organization
  • Accompaniment and assistance of a wine merchant in the context of a joint control by the Customs and the DREETS in terms of wine registers, traceability and labelling
  • Advice to an operator in matters of Domain and Château names and labelling
  • Representation of an ODG before the Court in the context of a dispute on the usurpation of denomination of origin
Share and print
Newsletter

Subscribe to our newsletter to be informed of our news