You were searching iDealwine and come across a wine you didn’t know but as it appealed to you, you decided to buy it. Upon opening it, you fell under its charm and asked yourself how you could not possibly have already stumbled across it before. Who selected this producer and why? Our purchasing team, that’s who. The trio of Raphaël de Fonscolombe, Luca Charlot and Amicie Debavelaere are like walking encyclopaedias of the wine world. Let’s meet them and find out what they do day-in-day-out.
What does a wine buyer do?
Being a wine purchaser comes with many tasks. There’s managing a diverse portfolio of winemakers and producers as well scouting prospects, building and maintaining relationships with estates and agents, taking part in wine fairs and tastings, visiting partners, overseeing orders and stock management and working with other teams to promote the wine to name but a few. Our wine buyers are so passionate about what they do, brining an amazing range of wine from the most sensational producers to our website. But they have to remain very attentive because the wine world is ever changing and evolving.
The buyers have a central role as they work with several other departments – the consignor’s team to ensure the accuracy of prices, the sales administrative team to add the wines to the website, the marketing team to promote partner producers…
Raphaël de Fonscolombe: Head of the purchasing team and manages Bordeaux and spirit acquisitions
Raphaël is what we call an “iDealwine baby” here. This means that he entered the working world at the company (in his case, in 2015). The Bordeaux native climbed the ladder little by little to reach the post he holds today as head of the buying team. Alongside his roles as manager, he also oversees the procurements of Bordeaux wine and spirits, alongside the team in our Bordeaux office.
Back in his home region since September 2023, he is responsible for market relations and purchases. He is in contact with our partner producers to obtain brilliant allocations all the while working with brokers to offer the best selection. The Bordeaux team has a lot to do what with shining a spotlight on the region’s wines around the year and managing the En Primeur campaign when it starts in the springtime.
Amicie Debavelaere: Buyer for Burgundy, Beaujolais and Rhône
Amicie joined the buyers team at the start of 2023 to manage Burgundy, the region of her birth which she knows like the back of her hands. She opened our office in Beaune so that we could be closer to our Burgundy partner producers (which amount to about 200 now).
Amicie has also taken on managing the neighbouring regions of Beaujolais and the Rhône Valley. Her work includes meeting winemakers on a regular basis and attend events and wine fairs like the Salon d’Ampuis in January to discover the most recent Côte Rôtie vintages.
Luca Charlot: Buyer for Champagne, Loire, Alsace, Jura, Savoie, Provence, Corsica, South West France and wines of the world
Having already worked at iDealwine on our appraisal team, Luca now uses his expert wine knowledge to manage over 400 partner producers. This is a list that he is working on expanding, having added Franz Strohmeier, Domaine du Gringet, La Ferme du Mont Benault, and Goienetxea recently. As you can see, this is a diverse selection that will continue expanding. Luca’s past experiences includes studying in Beaune, working at Anne Gros as well as in Piedmont and Mendoza, and obtaining the WSET Level 4. He puts all this towards bringing iDealwine clients the most wonderful wines from around the world.
