New Acquisitions and Sustainable Innovations: Latest News from Viticulture, Plastic Recycling, Medef, and Energy in East France

Viticulture: two new acquisitions for the Drouhin family. Carbios obtains €54 million in public aid for its plastic recycling project in Lorraine. Patrick Martin, candidate for the national presidency of Medef, visiting Côte-d’Or. Lower electricity consumption in the East. Transports Weber will expand to Cernay. Robert Poggi, Regional Director EDF Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Rémy Jeannin, president of the UIMM Côte-d’Or. Hugues Bapst, President of Federec (recycling) East.

• Viticulture: two new acquisitions for the Drouhin family

The Drouhin family has just acquired the Château de Chasselas estate in Saint-Véran. Associated with the Millésime hotel group, it will transform the buildings into a hotel, which will open its doors in 2025. The House Joseph Drouhin acquires 7.5 hectares of vines, including a plot in the process of being classified as 1^is cru. The estate also includes parcels of Beaujolais and a plantation of Chasselas. The first vintage of Saint-Véran Joseph Drouhin Château de Chasselas will be marketed in the summer of 2024. The vines are currently undergoing organic conversion, in accordance with the philosophy and practices for 35 years of the house in Beaune (Côte(d’Or). ). The family also bought the Rapet estate in Saint-Romain, near Beaune. The unique geology of the place, with the limestone of the lias, combined with the effects of global warming, make it a strategic choice. Saint-Romain also has historical value: it is here that the first Celtic and Gallo-Roman vines were grown in Burgundy. The estate includes 8.6 hectares of white and red Saint-Romain appellations, as well as one hectare of white and red Auxey-Duresses, and more than one hectare of Meursault and Pommard. The estate has recently begun its conversion to organic farming, which will continue. The Drouhin family now manages more than 100 hectares of vines in Burgundy. It achieved a turnover of €50 million in 2022 by distributing its wines in more than 100 countries. A.Morel

• Carbios obtains €54 million in public aid for its plastic recycling project in Lorraine

The innovative company Carbios announces that it has obtained €54 million in public funding to support its PET plastic bio-recycling plant project (polyethylene terephthalate) in Longlaville (Meurthe-et-Moselle), on the border with Luxembourg and Belgium. National call for projects “Plastic Recycling” of Ademe allows the Auvergne start-up to benefit from aid of €30 million from the State as part of France 2030. In addition, the Grand Est region will provide €12.5 million . Finally, the project benefits from additional funding of €11.4 million via France 2030, including €8.2 million directly for Carbios and €3.2 million for its academic partners. The Carbios unit, whose commissioning is expected in 2025 on the site of its Thai partner Indorama Ventures, mobilizes a total of €200 million in investment. It should be able to supply, from plastic waste, a recycled PET of equivalent quality to that of the virgin material. In total, 150 direct and indirect jobs will be generated on site to process 50,000 tonnes of PET waste per year, or the equivalent of 2 billion bottles. Emmanuel Ladent, CEO of Carbios, recalls that “Thanks to previous support from the French State and the EIB (European Investment Bank), we were able to demonstrate the economic and environmental competitiveness of our technology on the scale of the industrial demonstrator installed in Clermont-Ferrand. The renewed support of Ademe and that of the Grand-Est region are crucial for this new industrial stage which marks the start of our international deployment. » P. Bohlinger

• Patrick Martin, candidate for the national presidency of Medef, visiting Côte-d’Or

The general meeting of Medef Côte-d’Or was held on June 1 in Arceau in the presence of Patrick Martin, candidate – and favorite – for the national presidency of Medef to succeed Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux, on July 6. . Among the topics discussed: the attractiveness of France with the “virulent international competition and in particular with the United States which offers subsidies to companies so that they come to settle on their territory”, but also recruitment tensions. The candidate assures, if he is elected, that he will mobilize to support the reform of vocational high schools, “a real challenge for young people but also for companies. » Patrick Martin underlines that thanks to a demanding social dialogue, the Medef has been able to reach agreements “on subjects that the State does not know how to manage. » On the response to the climate crisis, the president of the Martin Group, supplier to industry and construction, remains cautious. “You have to reconcile growth and transition. The challenge is to organize shifts between sectors that will collapse and others that will require numerous investments. »he says. M.Vollot

• Transports Weber will expand to Cernay

Celebrating its 50th anniversary next week, the family carrier-logistician Weber is planning for the future at its site in Cernay (Haut-Rhin) where it set up in early 2020: it is planning its extension de 6.000 m² to bring it to 9,000 m² in 2025. “Prospecting for new customers allows us to launch this project that we had in the pipeline quickly after arriving in Cernay”, says President Sophie Weber. The company born in the bottom of the Thur valley maintains another warehouse there, in Oderen. Active with a varied panel of industries, it plans to hire 7 additional people compared to its workforce of 55 employees on the occasion of its extension. On June 30, it will end its 2022-2023 financial year with a turnover of €9.5 million, i.e. €2 million more than two years ago. Mr Walnut

Movements

• Robert Poggi, Regional Director EDF Bourgogne-Franche-Comté

Robert Poggi, new director of regional action for the EDF group in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, took up his duties on 6 June. He succeeds Yves Chevillon, in office for five years. Robert Poggi was already working in the region as director of Enedis, the electricity distribution subsidiary of EDF. At 52, this native of Marseille has the mission of accelerating the energy transition, promoting energy sobriety and enhancing the attractiveness of the energy professions. He becomes responsible for the 5,700 employees of the energy company in the region. A sailor during the first part of his life, the Supélec engineer is now committed to the fight against climate change. He believes in the energy mix to meet major challenges. It is through a greater flexibility of the network that the country will be able to take up, for example, the challenge of the electrification of vehicles, he believes. But, the major challenge that Robert Poggi will face is employment. Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, without a nuclear power plant, remains and intends to remain the main French nuclear supplier. The new regional boss of EDF will have to participate in the revitalization of training and the strengthening of attractiveness to recruit young people. The nuclear sector needs, nationally, 100,000 employees, including 800 for the only Framatome in Burgundy. A.Morel

• Rémy Jeannin, president of the UIMM Côte-d’Or

Chairman and CEO of Savoye, the operator of automated solutions for logistics, Rémy Jeannin took over, on May 23, the presidency of UIMM Côte-d’Or, of which he had been vice-president for six years. He succeeds Philippe Guérit for a three-year term. He joined Savoye in 1993 and took over as head in 2011. The renewed office of the departmental UIMM also includes Jean-Yves Pallard (vice-president representing the groups), Eric Magaud his counterpart for VSEs-SMEs, Eric Monnot treasurer and Christiane Roslyj (secretary), as well as 7 honorary, qualified or ex officio members. Mr Walnut

• Hugues Bapst, President of Federec (recycling) East

Commercial director of the Alsatian waste treatment group Schroll (566 employees and a turnover of 130 million euros in 2022), Hugues Bapst takes the presidency of Federec Est, the regional representation of the Federation of recycling companies. In the Grand Est, the sector employs 2,950 people in 228 companies that recover 6 million tonnes per year. At the head of Federec Est, Hugues Bapst succeeds Thierry de Chirée. Mr. Walnut