A note from Jean Christophe about the "Selected by Jean Christophe" portfolio

"I was born and raised in Bordeaux, in a family of wine merchants spanning six generations. Over the years, I’ve spent thousands of hours tasting wines and traveling throughout the Bordeaux region and the South of France, cellar by cellar, village by village.

From more than 3,000 wines tasted, I’ve narrowed it down to a selection of 40–50 bottles. Each comes from an independent, family-run producer or co-op committed to quality, authenticity, respect for nature and affordability. I've selected these wines based on four decades of working on the ground in the US, connecting with consumers to showcase this new wave of French wines.

Wine isn’t about one great bottle. It’s about discovery, pleasure, and sharing time with others. With so much wine in the world, finding bottles that are consistently great—across regions, styles, and prices—takes years. I’ve spent those years so you don’t have to.

So whether it’s a $9 white for a picnic or a $50 red for a special moment, the idea behind the selection is simple: relax and never regret your purchase. Stop overthinking wine lists, crowded shelves, or bad recommendations. If you’ve enjoyed a bottle « Selected by Jean Christophe », explore the rest of the selection and find the perfect companion for your next memory."

- Jean-Christophe Calvet

Discover the Portfolio

The Calvet Family & Wine :
A Six Generation Legacy

18th C. Calvet, doctor in Anse north of Lyon, invests in the wine business.

1808 Jean-Marie Calvet (1789-1873) creates his own wine merchant business in Tain L'Hermitage after having supervised his father's vineyards in the Rhone region. The company supplies Cotes-du-Rhone wine to Bordeaux, which was then blended with Gironde wines to create wines suitable for the English palate.

1818 Jean-Marie names his company Calvet-Richard et Roch.

1823 Company changes its name to Calvet et Cie.

1825 Calvet et Cie installs its first warehouses in Bordeaux on rue Boudet.

1849 Octave Calvet (1827-1886) opens Calvet et Cie offices in Bordeaux, while keeping offices and warehouses in Tain.

1870 Construction of the Maison Calvet buildings on Cours du Medoc with their imposing Louis XVI façade. The buildings eventually covered 30,000 m2 and could hold 60,000 barrels and more than 2 million bottles.

It was such a remarkable building that it became a tourist attraction, with visitors coming to see the cellars.

1870s Octave Calvet establishes offices, cellars and a distillery in Jonzac.

1878 Maison Calvet headquarters in Tain is closed following the devastation wrought by phylloxera in the Cotes du Rhone region. Maison Calvet begins working out of Beaune, but Bordeaux becomes the head office.

1890 Offices opened in London. Jean-Aime Calvet, son of Octave (1861-1946), concentrates his efforts on England. The Calvet's cornered the lion share of wine exported to England. Jean-Aime runs the company until his death in 1946.

Image9_edited_edited.jpg

Image8.png

1895 (filiale) opens in Beaune, Burgundy.

1897 (filiale) in Buenos Aires, run by brother Georges Calvet. Argentina becomes the second largest market for the Calvets. The Calvets enjoy

a virtual monopoly.

1946 Daniel Calvet (1895-1949), son of Jean-Aimé, takes over the business in 1946 after the death of his father. This is immediately after World War II and the German occupation in Bordeaux and a difficult period because business needed to sales had slowed down.

1949 Jacques Calvet, the younger brother of Daniel, manages the business until Jean Calvet - the son of Daniel - officially takes over.

1958 Calvet receives the Prestige of France Diploma, which is given by the French Government to the best exporting company in France.

1966 Jean Calvet (1925), the 5th generation in direct line, takes over business. Under his management, Calvet consolidates its number one position as the largest négociant in France with a dominant market share in Europe.

1966 A fire destroys the buildings at the Cours du Medoc. The entire stock of 100 years of classified growths is destroyed. The company moves its activities to the Quai de Bacalan.

1970 Jean Calvet is one of the first négociants to visit Japan and to open up the market for French wines, with an historic agreement with the legendary house, Suntory.

1970 The new buildings, built on the ruins of the original site, are inaugurated by Mayor Chaban-Delmas.

1981 Jean-Christophe Calvet, the 6th generation, goes to work for Maison Calvet as Director of Exports.

1982 The Calvet family, led by Jean and his younger brother, Hubert, sells all of its holdings to the British company Whitbread, retaining only their ancestral residential properties and estates. Jean-Christophe remains with the English-held company as Director of Exports.

1984 Jean-Christophe Calvet leaves Maison Calvet and joins Julius Wile and Sons, the legendary wine importer in New York.

Jean-Christophe marries American Margaret Chung, a Harvard-educated investment banker.

1989 Jean Christophe joins the Groupe Remy Amerique in NY and eventually becomes VP of Marketing, USA. He is later promoted to position of Country Manager for Colombia, Venezuela, Peru and Ecuador and eventually Managing Director of Remy Ireland.

1998 Jean Christophe leaves the Group Remy Cointreau. He and Margaret and their sons return to Bordeaux, buying the Eiffel family home in the historic wine district, just a few feet from the Calvet ancestral home on Jardin Public and down the road from the original Maison Calvet offices. Jean Christophe begins a small wine merchant operation.

2002 Jean Christophe and Margaret launch Aquitaine Wine Company in Bordeaux. Here Jean Christophe begins the journey of assembling his exclusive portfolio.

Today, Aquitaine Wine Company encompasses a nation-wide sales team in the US and a fully staffed operations team in France. The "Selected by Jean Christophe" portfolio contains 40-50 exclusive brands from independent, family owned producers that represent the new wave of Bordeaux wine.

Jean-Sebastien Calvet and Charles Calvet, sons of Jean Christophe and Margaret, have joined the business to lead sales and operations respectively. They strive to keep Jean Christophe's mission alive by ensuring quality, delight and affordability remain the focus of the portfolio.