GEA SAUTERNES

What GEA SAUTERNES does

GEA Sauternes is a French agricultural employer cooperative (Groupement d'Employeurs Agricole) incorporated as a Société par Actions Simplifiée in late 2017 with registered office in Langon, France (SIREN 834 144 644, share capital €2,400). It operates inside the AOC Sauternes-Barsac appellation and provides shared viticultural labor services to approximately 15 member wine estates that collectively cultivate around 700 hectares of vineyard. The cooperative pools seasonal employment demand so that individual chateaux — which would individually struggle to justify permanent HR and payroll infrastructure — can access a flexible, compliant seasonal workforce under a single employer-of-record.

The cooperative's core service is seasonal labor provision, offering roughly 100 seasonal positions with compensation of €12.25 per hour gross plus a €100 per month attendance bonus. Beyond raw staffing, GEA Sauternes operates the QV Sauternes training program, a 16-week qualification pathway that upskills seasonal workers and adds a training-led dimension to the member offering. Governance is led by President Vincent Craveia, with Denys Guillot as Director and Lisa Gombart handling HR. The revenue model is essentially pass-through labor billing to the 15 member estates, augmented by margin on training delivery, with no technology platform, external customer base, or non-member revenue stream in evidence.

Name

GEA SAUTERNES

Legal name

GIRONDE EMPLOI AGRICOLE SAUTERNES (GEA Sauternes), société SAS société par actions simplifiée au capital de 2400 euros

Website

https://geasauternes.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

French agricultural employer cooperative providing shared seasonal viticultural labor and a 16-week QV training program to about 15 wine estates across 700 hectares in the AOC Sauternes-Barsac appellation near Langon.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Agricultural Labor Services

NAICS

Farm Labor Contractors and Crew Leaders (115115)

akta.pro primary industry

Vineyard Labor & Compliance Management (H-2A, Safety, Payroll, Housing) (AFAGAJAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Contractor of Record (COR) / Global Contractor Management (BPACAHAE), Pruning, Trellising & Canopy Management Crews (Vineyards/Orchards) (AFACAHAE)

Keywords

• Agricultural labor cooperative
• Viticultural staffing services
• Wine industry workforce
• Shared employer services
• Vineyard seasonal workers

Headquarters

HQ city

Langon

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Personnel mise à disposition (Staff secondment services): GEA Sauternes generates revenue by providing part-time and seasonal workers to member wine properties. Member properties pay for the shared labor services, which includes HR administration, payroll management, and compliance support. The cooperative model allows costs to be optimized by pooling resources across multiple wine chateaux.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

GEA SAUTERNES is a cooperative agricultural employer group (groupement d'employeurs agricole) operating in the Sauternes-Barsac wine region of France. It directly recruits and employs viticultural workers and secondes them to its member wine chateaux, providing shared labor services so that member properties can flexibly staff seasonal and permanent vineyard work without each individually bearing full employment obligations.

Product overview

GEA Sauternes operates as a cooperative employer group providing shared viticultural labor services to approximately fifteen member wine properties covering 700 hectares in the Sauternes-Barsac appellation. The core offering is the shared employer services model, which enables member vineyards to access part-time or seasonal workers while providing employees with stable, full-time employment. A complementary offering is the QV Sauternes training program, a 16-week qualification pathway that trains vineyard workers (ouvriers viticoles polyvalents) for employment in the prestigious Sauternes wine region.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Shared Employer / Staff Secondment Service
• Viticultural Worker Recruitment
• QV (Qualification Viticole) Training Program

Quantifiable outcome

• 15 member wine properties across 700 hectares
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights2 records

Broad incumbents

• Manpower France: Major generalist staffing operator with seasonal agri-viticulture placements in Bordeaux region; broader portfolio means viticulture is one vertical among many, without the cooperative governance model that distinguishes GEA.
• Randstad France: Global staffing group with French operations covering seasonal and agri profiles; comparable in addressing labor flexibility needs but operating as a commercial agency rather than a member-owned cooperative employer group.
• Adecco France: Large generalist staffing firm with an agriculture/viticulture vertical; competes for the same seasonal labor pool and could potentially serve wine properties directly, though lacks GEA's cooperative employer structure and regional specialization.

Others

• ANEFA (Association Nationale pour l'Emploi et la Formation en Agriculture): National association coordinating agricultural employment and training across France. Not a direct competitor but operates in the same ecosystem, channeling workers and trainees toward groupements d'employeurs like GEA Sauternes.
• FNGEAR (Fédération Nationale des Groupements d'Employeurs Agricoles et Ruraux): National federation representing agricultural employer groups in France; provides advocacy, training and best-practice sharing that directly affects GEA Sauternes' operating environment and potential scaling playbook.

Direct peers

• Service de Remplacement France: National network providing replacement and seasonal labor to French farmers, operating on the same tripartite employer-sharing logic as GEA Sauternes, but at national scale and across all agricultural sectors rather than viticulture-only.

Market position

Strengths1 record

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Geasauternes
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/gea-sauternes

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about GEA SAUTERNES