Hubert de Billy, Champagne Pol Roger, appointed as the new President of Primum Familiae Vini
by Qian Leung
@ 10 Aug 2018
Primum Familiae Vini, also known as PFV, is an international association of some of the world's finest wine producing families from France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain, the "Leading Wine Families”. Hubert de Billy, fifth-generation steward of Champagne Pol Roger, has been appointed as the new President of Primum Familiae Vini. He shares his thoughts here.
"Twenty-five years ago, my family was invited to join PFV which Robert Drouhin and Miguel Torres had created from scratch one year before.
It was - and still is - a great honour to have been welcomed by this great association and to take part in this amazing adventure.
It is my duty and my pleasure to thank my predecessor Jean-Frédéric Hugel for the great job he did and all the energy he put into it. I am now starting my third term as president and I am proud of all we have done together showing the world that wine is not just a product or even a business. The family dimension shows us wine is values!
A few days ago, one of the oldest Spanish family companies, Codorniu, was forced, after five centuries of family ownership, to allow one of the biggest private equity firms to acquire a majority holding. Time is flying and the world is changing. Generations are passing and PFV must keep going and adapting to new challenges and so we can be stronger together.
The structure of the companies that make up the Primum Familiae Vini, a family structure by definition, is what we know and have long mastered. Our companies have a total of 2,388 years of experience; for us, more than ever, the family means sustainability and, therefore, the safeguarding of values without which it is impossible to produce great wines and preserve our common heritage. In this we remain symbols, and models, for the world of Wine and perhaps even beyond.
We have decided to audit ourselves and look into what has been done in the past, to understand the very meaning of PFV for each and every member. We are determined to look forward to be able to say clearly where we would like to be in 10, 20 or 30 years and even more.
New ideas, new tools and new events…Many things will be decided in the near future to take PFV to the next level and make it better known, better understood and more attractive to all our friends and wine-lovers around the world.
We will join together at Prowein and Vinexpo to show off the quality of our wines and, more specifically, our range of wines that complement each other and offer great synergy.
May that message convey some of the unique values of PFV: Quality, Exclusivity, Responsibility, Heritage, Innovation.”
