Dona Bertarelli and her husband Yann Guichard have owned The Wine Merchant since 2017. We benefit from their long-term commitment to achieve our growth objectives and reinvent the wine trade of the future.
Accomplished sailors and philanthropists, our shareholders have given us the opportunity to position ourselves as a major player on the Place de Bordeaux.
Yann Guichard, President of The Wine Merchant, has long managed his investments in private equity and real estate while pursuing his sports career at Sails of Change, the sailing team founded with his wife Dona Bertarelli. He is the Managing Director of Ledunfly SA, the family office established in 2012 to serve the personal business interests of Dona Bertarelli, Yann Guichard, and Dona’s three children. Together with his wife Dona Bertarelli, he is a Patron of Nature of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). He is the Chairman, co-founder and skipper of the professional multihull sailing team, Sails of Change, which is based in La Trinité-sur-Mer in Brittany. A versatile sailor and an Olympian, Yann began multihull offshore and inshore racing in his twenties, and has won races and set records throughout his sailing career. In both business and sporting endeavours, Yann Guichard’s ambition is to innovate and deliver top performance, with the support of a solid, professionally run team.
« The appreciation of fine wines continues to grow worldwide, and I see the opportunity to win new market share. The Wine Merchant combines our passion for wine with the management of a healthy company with great potential. »
Dona Bertarelli is a Swiss philanthropist, ocean advocate, investor, and sportswoman. Together with her husband Yann Guichard, the couple are Patrons of Nature of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). She is the executive chair of Dona Bertarelli Philanthropy, co-chairs the Bertarelli Foundation, serves on the Mission Blue board and is a founding patron of the Womanity Foundation. She has also served as Special Adviser for the Blue Economy for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). Her commitment to the conservation of nature for the benefit of communities has been recognised with The Wilson Award for Corporate Citizenship, the Prince Albert I Grand Medal, Mediation Section, from the Oceanographic Institute of Monaco, and she has been honoured as a Commander of the National Order of Honorato Vasquez of Ecuador, and as a Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honor of France. Her Family Office, Ledunfly, manages her investments. As an investor, with assets in hospitality and real estate, she focuses on long-term value creation. An accomplished sailor and co-founder of Sails of Change sailing team, she has won prestigious races and broken records both inshore and offshore, winning the Bol d’Or Mirabaud in 2010 and 2014. In 2016, Dona Bertarelli became the fastest woman to sail around the world, after completing the Jules Verne Trophy record attempt.
« The Wine Merchant is known as one of the top traders for Bordeaux Grands Crus Classés, and represents an opportunity for long-term growth, and the possibility to promote France’s cultural heritage abroad. »
