Worldwide Vineyards

Paul Birebent, the founder

Paul Birebent is a fifth generation wine grower. Born in 1931 in Algeria, he grew up on the hillsides of Oran and made his wine growing début in the family farm. He left Algeria in 1962 to create a 140-hectare vineyard in Corsica.

While on a business trip to the United States in 1981, he learned about the top grafting of vines and its fantastic market opportunities. He brought these techniques back home and set out to study, improve and adapt them to European vineyards. He published numerous articles on his research throughout his career.

In 1985, he created Worldwide Vineyards, a company offering consultancy and services in viticulture and oenology and initiated the practice of top grafting vines.

It was Paul Birebent who at that time developed the "improving" grape varieties such as Chardonnay b., Merlot n. and Cabernet Sauvignon n..

Paul has always had a passion for top grafting. This led him to devise a new grafting technique called the "Birebent graft", for which he was awarded the Gold Medal for Ingenuity at the Sitevi 1988 Trade Show.

As a talented wine grower and top grafting pioneer, Paul Birebent is an internationally recognized expert in the wine producing world. He now enjoys a happy retirement while following his sons' careers.
Currently living in the south of France, Paul Birebent is the author of several books on Algeria and on viticulture. He is still renowned as being a great consultant to wine growers.


Marc Birebent, the renovator

Marc Birebent was born in France in 1967 and grew up on the family property in Corsica. Trained as a lawyer, he specialized in viticultural law.

Passionate about vines and top grafting, he assisted his father from the beginning of Worldwide Vineyards and took over management of the company in 1997.

Since then, Marc has not ceased to promote the T-bud and Chip-bud top grafting techniques and to lead the company expansion on every continent.

Inventor of the bud-cutting shears, the innovative nature of which was awarded a prize at the SITEVI 2001 Trade show, Marc has also published numerous articles, and is the author of "The Practical Guide to Grafting Vines by the T-bud and Chip-bud Methods".

He remains convinced of the importance of disseminating the numerous advantages of these grafting techniques, as well as their market prospects for viticulture the world over. Marc Birebent is a visionary researcher through and through in the field of viticulture. He believes that the future in grafting and top grafting could represent a real return to basics and draws his inspiration from ancestral practices to counter some of the excesses of our industrial society.

His current research focuses on perfecting graft bonding and grafting machines for bench or field grafting which respect plant tissue better, always with the idea of giving the plant more durability.