De Billy is taking over from Jean-Frederic Hugel and it will be his third tenure as president.

De Billy said: "Twenty-five years ago, my family was invited to join Primum Familiae Vini (PFV) which Robert Drouhin and Miguel Torres had created from scratch one year before.

“It was - and still is - a great honour to have been welcomed by this great association and to take part in this amazing adventure.

“A few days ago, one of the oldest Spanish family companies, Codorniu, was forced, after five centuries of family ownership, to allow one of the biggest private equity firms to acquire a majority holding. Time is flying and the world is changing. Generations are passing and PFV must keep going and adapting to new challenges and so we can be stronger together.

“We have decided to audit ourselves and look into what has been done in the past, to understand the very meaning of PFV for each and every member. We are determined to look forward to be able to say clearly where we would like to be in 10, 20 or 30 years and even more.

“New ideas, new tools and new events. Many things will be decided in the near future to take PFV to the next level and make it better known, better understood and more attractive to all our friends and wine-lovers around the world.

“We will join together at Prowein and Vinexpo to show off the quality of our wines and, more specifically, our range of wines that complement each other and offer great synergy.

“May that message convey some of the unique values of PFV: quality, exclusivity, responsibility, heritage, innovation."