By definition, wine merchant companies buy grapes to make them into wine, and buy wines to sell.
Very often, they also own their own vineyards, thus they can also be producers and market their own wines in addition to that of independent producers.
Wine merchants can also be “blender-maturers”, in which case they blend wines from a given appellation supplied by more than one producer, and then mature them in their own cellars.

Some of the great wine merchant houses also produce and market wines from other regions.
The 40 merchant companies in the Loire Valley also help to promote awareness of the region’s vineyards, and receive visitors at their premises.

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