La Story (Les Echos) Commentary: Frédéric Rouzaud—250 Years of Family Management at Champagne Louis Roederer and Cultural Patronage in Photography, Music, and the Environment
August 12, 2026
Overview
This episode of La Story, the daily podcast from the French economic newspaper Les Echos, is the third installment of their special summer series, "Executives and Culture (5 parts in total)." Martine Robert, an expert in cultural patronage and the arts, visits the offices of executives to hear about their passion for heritage and culture.
The guest for this episode is Frédéric Rouzaud, Director of the Roederer Collection. As the 7th generation head of the prestigious Champagne house Louis Roederer, he has maintained family ownership and independence while developing the group into one that now encompasses nearly 10 wineries worldwide.
In the episode, Rouzaud discusses the diverse cultural patronage he has developed, starting with 20 years of support for photography at the National Library of France (BNF), support for emerging artists through a foundation established 15 years ago, the creation of awards themed around music, film, and the environment, and artist residencies at his wineries. For him, culture is "life, energy, creativity, and an openness to others and the world."
The Roederer Collection Corporate Group
According to Rouzaud, the Roederer Collection is a comprehensive brand name that bundles the group of wineries gathered around Louis Roederer. With the historic, family-owned flagship Champagne Louis Roederer at its core, they have collected numerous wineries over time.
Today, they own nearly 10 wineries around the world. These include Château Pédesclaux and Château Pichon Comtesse in Bordeaux, the Domaines Ott in Provence, Maison Duras in the Rhône Valley, Ramos Pinto, which produces great port wine in the Douro region of Portugal, and four properties in Napa Valley, California.
In terms of scale, they have about 1,000 hectares and 1,000 employees, with each property dedicated to producing great wines in small quantities. In addition to these wineries, the group includes a distribution company, a foundation that supports culture, and a hospitality (hotel) business currently under development.
What was inherited as the 7th generation head
Rouzaud says that being the 7th generation head is "both heavy and not heavy." Now that he has led the house for 20 years, he says that while there were moments of anxiety at the beginning, that is now in the past.
Rather, he describes it as great luck, a responsibility, a mission, and a passion. This is because a winery must respond to the family's ambition and mission to create tomorrow's great wines within a long timeline and long-term vision, and it is a job that faces nature every day. This year, Champagne Roederer celebrates its 250th anniversary.
Rouzaud grew up in the city of Reims. He says his origins lie in memories of weekends spent helping his father with the harvest at the end of September (at the time), often in the rain. Later, he became responsible for managing the presses, and the tactile contact with the raw material of young Pinot Noir, along with tasting the grapes and wines, fostered his desire to play a role in the house.
The history of a family that has loved art
Rouzaud says that winemaking itself is an artistic endeavor that reinterprets nature every year through the work of a new vintage. It is easy to just make wine, but aiming for a great wine that moves people requires far more investment and attention to detail. He says it is the same as an artist pruning vines, picking leaves at the right time, and tending to them like a garden.
The family has been involved in culture for generations. In the 19th century, Louis Roederer built one of the most beautiful collections of ancient books, second only to that of Chantilly. While it was scattered during the inheritance process and many are said to be in the United States today, the love for books, reading, and the written word has been passed down through generations. Rouzaud himself says that he always needs art as something that illuminates the world of today and tomorrow and allows one to see things from a different perspective.
His father, Jean-Claude Rouzaud, was a lover of the author Saint-Exupéry and was himself an airplane pilot. He reportedly spent two or three years trying to find the wreckage of Saint-Exupéry's plane, which was shot down off the coast of Marseille in the Mediterranean during World War II. Although they did not find it at the time (it is said to have been found later), it was an attempt to shed light on this author.
20 years of photography support for the National Library of France (BNF)
The patronage he began over 20 years ago was support for photography through the National Library of France (BNF). He says he has helped introduce the wonderful collection of photographic history that had been sleeping in the basement of the BNF to the public through exhibitions for about 20 years.
Over 20 years, they realized at least one exhibition per year, totaling about 20. He says he remembers the "Contraste" exhibition, which gathered the 100 most contrasting and surprising photographs, the Guy Debord exhibition, and an exhibition by Anselm Kiefer, who is often considered a contemporary artist.
An even stronger area of support is the BNF's "Research Scholarship." This is an award given annually to young researchers who shed light on the BNF's photographic and literary heritage.
The Establishment of the Foundation in 2011 and Its Mission
The patronage that began intuitively with the BNF was structured upon Mr. Rouzaud's appointment as director, leading to the establishment of the foundation in 2011. By taking the form of a foundation, the goal was to hold itself more strictly accountable as a long-term initiative and to establish a system with a board of directors to seriously discuss the foundation's mission.
The foundation's mission is to support creation and memory, focusing on young talent rather than those already widely recognized. Under Artistic Director Audrey Bazin, who joined three years ago, many projects have been developed at the core of the wineries, in addition to traditional support for the BNF and the Cannes Critics' Week.
In 2011, the 10th year of support for the BNF, the "Great Patron of Culture" medal was awarded by Frédéric Mitterrand from the Ministry of Culture. He says that even a small foundation with a modest budget can realize that it can occupy a proper place in the cultural environment by promoting original and unique patronage.
The Philosophy of Supporting Emerging Talent
The foundation's annual budget is currently 900,000 euros (approximately 165.35 million yen, calculated at 1 euro = 183.72 yen). It was previously 600,000 euros (approximately 110.23 million yen), but it was increased to respond to the vitality and energy brought by the artistic director.
Mr. Rouzaud says he values sensitivity to emerging creativity. This is because it is more stimulating, and also more accessible and better suited to their scale. Ms. Bazin describes this as "lace-making for cultural support." It is a group of projects that are consistent despite using different media, starting with photography and extending to film, writing, and music.
In the field of music, the "Pichon-Comtesse Prize," named after the Bordeaux Pauillac chateau, has just been launched at the Philharmonie de Paris. He calls it a courageous attempt to support experimental music.
Prizes and Residencies Born from the Individuality of Each Winery
The Pichon-Comtesse Prize was born from the idea of starting from the sensitivity of the team at each property, rather than forcing cultural projects onto the local teams. Nicolas Glumineau, the head of Château Pichon, is a winemaker who is also an opera singer and has a diverse background as a former mountain infantryman, and he serves as a judge for this prize.
At Domaine Ott in Provence, under Jean-François Ott, a descendant of the Ott family, they held the "Mobilis in Mobili" festival, which deals with masterpieces of the sea. He says it was a fleeting experience that cannot be recorded, where actors from the Comédie-Française were invited to read masterpieces related to the sea for two hours under a tent by the seaside. It is held every two years.
They also created the "Thinking Sustainability Prize" as an award linking culture and the environment. With judges gathered from five continents, works themed around the environment and ecology are proposed, and researchers contribute texts that engage in dialogue with the works. The works and texts are published on the foundation's website, which was launched a year ago, and the foundation has also begun building a collection.
The wineries also host artist residencies. At Champagne Louis Roederer and in California, they have given young talent a place for free creation (carte blanche). He says that visual artist Johan Nanduc created wonderful works from the chalk that forms the underground of the Champagne region.
Corporate Collection and Hospitality Business
Fifteen years after the foundation's establishment, they acquire works little by little each year, expanding the foundation's collection. This is also to preserve the memory of their activities, and he says he hopes to find an opportunity to showcase them someday. There is also a plan to create a "Library of Creativity" at the Roederer headquarters, connecting it with the family's 19th-century book collection.
The hospitality business is also under development. The historic family hotel "Christiania" in Val d'Isère is being renovated and is scheduled to open at the end of the year. The plan is to renovate guest houses at each winery that are not open to the public and offer experiences centered on wine, the maison, and the art of living (art de vivre), and the corporate collection may also be displayed in these boutique hotels.
Artistic Memories Engraved in Acquired Wineries
Many of the acquired properties had their own unique histories that intersected with art. Ramos Pinto in Portugal has a beautiful collection of early 20th-century Art Deco posters, and the family has also supported the Serralves Foundation, one of Portugal's leading foundations.
Of the three quintas (vineyards) also owned by Ramos Pinto, one closest to the Spanish border was in danger of being submerged by a hydroelectric dam project. However, while Mr. Rouzaud's father and his team were walking along the river, they discovered ancient rock carvings and succeeded in completely stopping the dam project. A museum was built behind the rock carvings, and he says they can still be visited today.
Networking Patronage and Its Personal Significance
Mr. Rouzaud places great importance on interconnecting each of his patronage activities. The 'Jeu de Paume' cinema, which he supports, was reopened through the foundation's patronage and screens works that have won awards at the Cannes Critics' Week. For the renovation of the residence in Reims, he has invited a nature-themed visual artist, a former resident of the Villa Médicis, to spend three weeks creating a work that will be presented to visitors and clients.
The foundation is led by expert Audrey Bazin, but Mr. Rouzaud remains involved as its president. The institutions supported are diverse, including the Jeu de Paume, the Cannes Film Festival, the BNF, the Deauville American Film Festival, the Palais de Tokyo, and the Villa Albertine. Mr. Rouzaud, who describes himself as a mere enthusiast, says that the arrival of the true expert, Ms. Bazin, has brought greater consistency to the foundation's artistic endeavors.
When asked what patronage has brought him personally, Mr. Rouzaud replies, 'It is life, energy, creativity, openness to others, and openness to the world.' He concluded by saying that living in a country that needs art and still allows for such openness is extremely precious and something that must be carefully protected.
▶ Previous entry in this series: La Story (Les Echos) Commentary: Cécile Rap-Veber of SACEM—1.7 Billion Euros in Copyright Collection, French-American Film Festivals, AI Learning, and Creator Protection https://note.com/yondo/n/n84a0e83d297e
▶ Read more articles on this theme: Magazine 'Overseas Business Programs Not Available in Japanese' https://note.com/yondo/m/mefd2fd5a305c
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