A number of Bordeaux vineyard sales were completed in the last months of 2013:
Two brothers, Yi Zhu and Hongtao You, completed the purchase of five properties in Bordeaux in November: Chateau Moulin à Vent (AOC Moulis, 21 hectares of vines); Chateau Vieux Coutelin, (AOC Saint-Estèphe, 10 hectares); Chateau Bourdicotte (AOC Bordeaux, 103 hectares) and Chateau Grand Ferrand (AOC Bordeaux, 82 hectares). All of the properties, except Chateau Moulin à Vent, sold by Dominique Hessel, were owned by the RCR Group, which at one point owned 23 chateaux in the Bordeaux region. The You brothers had previously bought Chateau La Salagre (30 hectares) in Bergerac from RCR and also own a vineyard in Chianti. They live between British Colombia and Hong Kong and made their fortune in the pharmaceuticals business, according to various sources.
In addition to the above sales RCR group also recently sold three other properties in Bordeaux: Chateau Hauterive (AOC Medoc, 55 hectares) and Grand Jour (AOC Cotes de Bourg & AOC Bordeaux, 88 hectares), both of which were sold to the Haiching Group, who are reported to have purchased more than 20 properties in Bordeaux, and Chateau Pontet Chappaz (AOC Margaux, 7 hectares), which was sold to the French Ballande Group, owners of Chateau Prieure Lichine.
The sale of Chateau Mylord, which had been on the market for several years, was also completed shortly before the end of the year. This estate, with 44 hectares of both red and white vines, is situated close to Chateau Bonnet in the heart of the Entre-Deux-Mers region. It has been purchased by Edwin Cheung of ITC Properties, a Hong Kong based company, who is reported to have already embarked on a programme to renovate the chateau and the winemaking facilities.
Other properties sold include:
Chateau du Tourte, an 8-hectare property in Graves, purchased by Wen Da Chen, who has a wine importing business in Peking.
Dominique Hebrard, a former owner of Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau Bellefont-Belcier, has sold a controlling interest in Chateau Trianon, a 10 hectare property in Saint-Emilion, to a Chinese industrialist, Mr An. Four associates now own the property: two Chinese and two French.
Domaine Andron, a 7 hectare Haut-Medoc estate in Saint-Seurin-de-Cadourne has been sold by its Dutch owner, ERWU-Projects, to Mr Yang, a Chinese businessman. Interestingly, the ERWU-Projects website describes Domaine Andron as “the 1st success” and goes on to say “This small domain, next to the very famous chateau Sociando Mallet in the Haut-Medoc, is not for sale”… At the time of writing the domaine is still being advertised on the website of their “partner” Moulin International Property Management BV for 1,150,000 Euros.