WHO ARE WE ?

FICB was created in 1964. It is a not for profit association under the French law, with its seat at the Paris Wine Museum.

The object of FICB is to :

publicize and promote the wine brotherhoods which, at the level of a country, a region or a district, maintain the traditions, promote the nobility and quality of wine and disseminate information and good practices on its reasoned consumption and its harmonious association to gastronomy;
increase the exposure of wine-growing regions across the globe and their production;
promote the art of wine tasting, reasoned and reasonable;
facilitate the friendly exchange of information and experience among its members.

WHAT IS A WINE BROTHERHOOD ?

Wine brotherhoods, or bachic societies (from Bacchus, the Greek god of wine) are assemblies of professionals and amateurs of wine having the object to promote the wine production of their region or, more generally, of the country to which they belong. They support the nobility and quality of wine and its harmonious association with gastronomy.

The oldest wine brotherhood known in France is the “Antico Cofrarie Sant-Andiu de la Galineiro” formed in 1140 in Beziers, in the South of France, now a member of F.I.C.B. Several hundreds are active today, mainly in countries with a long wine growing tradition, but increasingly also in the new wine producing countries, as they contribute to the consolidation and promotion of wine growing and tasting traditions.

The wine brotherhoods organize festive events around the quality and reasoned tasting of wine, which allow the meeting of their members and to admit new ones. Their dignitaries usually wear costumes inspired by the dresses of notables of the time of the Renaissance, distinct for each brotherhood. Their members wear characteristic insignia such as necklaces or medals. Their members wear characteristic insignia such as necklaces or medals.

At its 2015 General Assembly, F.I.C.B. adopted an “International Charter of Wine Brotherhoods” which captures their shared values and objectives and describes their activities.

INTERNATIONAL FEDERATION OF WINE BROTHERHOODS

(FICB)

5 Square Charles Dickens – Rue des Eaux
75016 Paris France
Contact : info@winebrotherhoods.org

President: Alan BRYDEN
Treasurer: Alain HUET
Secretary general: Marc LESK

Président d’Honneur : Claude JOSSE (Conseil des Echansons de France)