Terra Hominis, the specialist in participatory wine financing

To finance the purchase of one's own vineyards and to find ambassadors for one's brand and winery. This is the promise of Terra Hominis.

Participatory wine investment: a win-win system.

Terra Hominis offers an alternative method of financing that allows winegrowers to create or develop a wine estate via the crowdfunding system (literally "financing by the crowd"). A win-win partnership:

• The winegrower is freed from the pressure of buying vines
• The partners receive an annual payment in bottles of wine for life

Terra Hominis' mission: to help winemakers

The first company with a mission in the agricultural world, its public interest mission is to preserve what is the strength of French winegrowing: the diversity of the terroirs and of its winegrowers.

The purpose of Terra Hominis, as stated in article 2bis of its statutes, is to :

• "To preserve the strength of our vineyards and the diversity of its winegrowers by creating a link between wine lovers and winegrowers, and thus to revitalise rural areas while taking into account social and environmental issues.
• To enable the new generation of winegrowers who work in an environmentally friendly way and who do not have the financial means to acquire land or pay cash for rent to set up or develop.
• To enable farmers in difficulty to find financial leverage while allowing them to continue and perpetuate their activity.
• To be a living force of creation and sharing that wants to contribute to shaping a fraternal world for tomorrow by weaving and strengthening human relations between people.
   

The Terra Hominis approach

Terra Hominis, a specialist in participatory wine financing, helps to facilitate the installation of winegrowers, the development and transmission of vineyards. 

Terra Hominis supports environmentally friendly winegrowers by creating co-owned vineyards, starting at €1300 per share. Terra Hominis attaches great importance to the preservation of the French winegrowing landscape and selects winegrowers who all have at least one agroecological commitment.

Most of the wineries are certified organic, some apply biodynamic principles, others make natural method wines without sulphites and all share an environmental philosophy.

The winegrowers are also chosen for their human qualities, all of whom wish to share their passion and promote the fruit of their work.

For each vineyard, the structure creates Groupements Fonciers Viticoles, in which each partner is a co-owner of the vineyard, and which gives a lease to a winegrower (manager of the group).

The partners then receive their rent in the form of bottles of wine, every year and for life.

Terra Hominis has chosen unregulated participatory financing in order to select partners who share its values: Conviviality, Sharing, Pleasure, Transmission to future generations.

The pleasure dimension is therefore preponderant for the partners and this is what distinguishes it from classic crowdfunding platforms.

Being remunerated only in bottles of wine, the partners are not looking for a financial return but to give meaning to their savings. By acquiring one or more shares in the capital of a land group that owns vineyards, you become a neo-winegrower by proxy, while helping winegrowers to produce high-quality wine. They are then regularly informed of the life of the vineyard, and become its ambassadors, thus enabling the winegrower to develop a strong link with his customers.

The GFV associates also benefit from privileged rates to buy the wines of the estate as well as the wines of all the estates created by Terra Hominis.

Many operations have already been carried out

Since 2011, Terra Hominis has already carried out 41 operations in Bordeaux, Occitania, the Loire Valley, Cognac, Beaujolais and soon in the Rhône Valley:

• 3,200 partners
• 180 ha acquired
• 1,500 € average contribution per member

The disadvantages

You don't want to market your wine directly? Terra Hominis is not for you. Indeed, the partners will be the first buyers of your wines. They receive some in payment of their rent and also benefit from preferential rates.

The GFV is set up for a very long period. The vines are therefore not intended to be resold to the winegrower.

Finally, unlike other "land" solutions, the subscription of shares does not give entitlement to a tax advantage, but given the small amount of the investment, this is not the objective sought by investors either.

The benefits

For the winegrower, the intervention of Terra Hominis allows him to kill two birds with one stone: find investors and clients.

And it works, considering the number of operations carried out in just a few years.

And for investors, the entry threshold is very low, between €1,300 and €2,500 per share.