Short definition
A wine merchant who buys grapes, juice, or finished wine from growers to blend, age, and bottle under their own label.
Not every great wine label grows its own grapes. Louis Jadot, Joseph Drouhin, and Maison Leroy are all négociants — they buy from growers across multiple appellations and apply their own winemaking and aging. The best négociants have longstanding relationships with top growers and add real value through expert blending and cellar work. The worst are commodity bottlers trading on a famous region's name.