I am writing this letter upon my return from Vinexpo, the largest wine-related fair in the world, which took place at the end of June in Bordeaux. There, I had the distinct feeling that I had returned to the gigantic Basel Fair and that a fairy had granted one of my most secret wishes. With a flick of her magic wand, she had transformed all the watches into luscious bottles of wine and all the watch bracelets into as many useful corkscrews. The comparison didn't stop there either. Most of the exhibitors at Vinexpo expressed the same sentiments as their counterparts at Basel: there were less visitors, but the quality of the contacts was better than in previous years.

You are probably asking yourself where I am going with all this, and you are right to wonder. So, let's go one step at a time, and start with the relationship between wine and watchmaking. Many luxury groups have interests in both watches and the fruit of the vine. It is therefore not surprising that Zenith offered its guests a coupe of Veuve-Cliquot (or 'Cliquot' to be more chic) or a glass of Château-Talbot, a grand vintage wine from the Médoc, since these 'products' belong to the same large group.

Aside from this, there are other more unexpected similarities that pose a few delicate problems. Here is one example. Last May, the French economic publication La Tribune, a respectable and respected daily, devoted two full pages, plus a hook on page 1, to the difficulties experienced by François Pinault's PPR group, which apparently is having problems digesting the purchase of Gucci. The newspaper published an interview with François Roche concerning 'The Threatened Empire', a book about Pinault.

Well, you say, up to this point, nothing abnormal. Journalists may consider it necessary to warn their readers of the danger of placing their money in such and such a company. In this particular case, it involved the PPR group. Ah, but herein lies the dilemma.

The newspaper La Tribune is controlled by the world's number one luxury group, which is none other than LVMH, and the article in question concerned its rival PPR. Its publication created an outcry and provoked the collective resignation of the bureau of the Society of Journalists (SDJ), one of whose missions is to defend editorial independence.

The piece “about the difficulties of François Pinault incites strong emotion in the editorial department,” writes the bureau of the SDJ in a communiqué issued three days after the publication of the two-page article. “There was reason to ask questions about the place accorded in our columns to a work (signed François Roche) devoted to the threats weighing on the Pinault empire, while the conflicting relationship between this group and that of our parent company LVMH is well known,” added members of the SDJ bureau.

This example demonstrates the extent of the large webs woven by the big groups. They now control many companies in many different domains, from the vineyards of Château-Latour to the weekly news magazine Le Point, to the large brand Gucci, as in the case of PPR. In the majority of cases however, the layman is unaware, of what is really behind a bottle of wine, a tailored suit, a watch or even a newspaper.