Maison Lineti seeks buyer as major investor leaves
French whisky maker Maison Lineti has gone into liquidation and is seeking new investment after its main backer pulled out.
Founded in 2020 by Dr Magali Picard and her husband Alex Cosculluela, Maison Lineti is based in Les Artigues-de-Lussac, near Bordeaux. The company sought to bring a wine-making approach to producing whisky, which it had hoped to release in the near future.
However, the company went into liquidation on Monday (7 July) after its main backer, who comes from the wine industry, pulled investment.
Speaking to The Spirits Business, Cosculluela confirmed that it was the “end of a chapter” for Maison Lineti, but the founders hope to secure new investment to bring the company back to life.
He explained that the investor left Lineti to “focus on the wine industry” and that it comes during a time of lower consumption of wine and spirits globally.
“When you’re a new distillery, it’s like when you’re a plane taking off, if you have an issue in one engine you’re going to crash – it’s the same for Lineti,” he says. “At the beginning of a project like that, the main investment is from private equity, and if you don’t have any more of this, it’s really difficult. [The investor] told us a few months ago in March [that] it’s definitely over for us. We didn’t find a new investor before because we couldn’t communicate on the situation. We need new investment and we are doing fundraising.”
Cosculluela says the business has needed funding since the beginning of 2024, citing the difficulties around the whisky industry in France, which is not as established as sectors like wine.
According to trade body the Fédération du Whisky de France, there are more than 100 whisky distilleries operating in the country.
One of the biggest players is organic whisky maker Domaine des Hautes Glaces, located in the French alps. It has been owned by French drinks firm Rémy Cointreau since 2017.
No serious offers
Maison Lineti began looking for an investor in May this year, but it didn’t receive any serious offers, Cosculluela says.
Last month, it hosted the sixth edition of the World Whisky Forum, welcoming industry professionals to the distillery for several days of whisky talks and networking.
Despite the financial position of the company, the founders decided they would still host the World Whisky Forum from 24-26 June.
The event was also an opportunity for Lineti to showcase its distillery, vision and liquid to a room full of whisky experts from all over the world.
“If we had to cancel it then you can be sure the brand is dead,” Cosculluela recalled. “You have to pay back everything, the tickets, etc. It was difficult. We say let’s be focused on World Whisky Forum as the next step, we will close the first company after World Whisky Forum, but we have three months to find a new investor.”
He added that the company began the liquidation process “because we need cash flow”.
To decrease the company’s charges, the business stopped production at the start of 2025.
Cosculluela is hopeful that an investor with a background in the whisky industry will purchase the company, including the equipment and stocks.
“Maison Lineti can be integrated into a portfolio,” he believes. “To integrate into a whisky portfolio can be easy. Magali and myself can bring knowledge to a global group on whisky production, and on whisky branding.”
Cosculluela highlighted the UK as an area of focus when it comes to identifying a potential investor.
“The main whisky investors are in [the UK]. To find an investor from wine and spirits in France is really challenging and quite a struggle. The UK knows the whisky industry well and the spirits sales network is much easier.”
It is also important for the founders that the new owner continues their vision for Maison Lineti.
“A new investor will bring ideas, knowledge and experience,” says Cosculluela, alongside an established sales network. “We are totally open to that. The aim is to share Maison Lineti’s vision of excellence and innovation around the world. The whiskies haven’t hit the market yet. The idea of having an investor is to start the journey again.”
The business has yet to release its debut whiskies, with the first bottle being only eight months from launch. “The supply is ready and we are in contact with some distributors in France, in other countries,” he adds.
“We just opened two years ago, but in two years we have been validated by industry professionals. And the main issue is the problem of timing. Today what we are looking for is an investor under three pillars: one with a long-term vision, between 10-20 years, the second pillar should be some good equity and the last pillar is patience for the whisky.”
Vintage-driven approach
Maison Lineti is committed to making single malt French whisky using the same standards as esteemed Grand Cru wines. The distillery is located within the Greater Saint Émilion area, which was chosen for its quality of water.
The distillery uses techniques from the wine-making sector such as lees stirring and malolactic fermentation.
The company set out to create whiskies with a vintage-driven approach and released in five chapters – after three, five, eight, 10 and 12 years of barrel maturation. The aim is to show the effects of time and barrel maturation on a single spirit from a single year.
The distillery uses seven egg-shaped concrete tanks with a capacity of 70 hectolitres each for wort fermentation – said to be a world first in the whisky industry. It also pays homage to the tanks installed in the Bordeaux area over the past two decades.
For the distillation process, Maison Lineti has two 25 hectolitre open-fire Charentais pot stills.
The founders each brought their own strengths to the project. Picard was the distillery’s whisky maker, a chemical engineer with a PhD in oenology from the University of Bordeaux, who has documented her scientific approach to whisky.
As CEO of Maison Lineti, Cosculluela managed all other aspects of the business, with a focus on bringing French whisky to the global stage.
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