Lichine looks east to raise capital for expansion

Château d’Esclans owner Sacha Lichine is moving from France to Hong Kong at the end of August to raise money to expand operations and launch a new label.

Speaking to the drinks business earlier his week, he said he was moving “indefinitely” to Asia with his family to create a seed fund to invest in his company, “and maybe do another one”.

Referring to the successful international establishment of upmarket Provençal rosé label Château d’Esclans, Sacha said he was considering a new brand launch.

“I turned 50 this year, and I don’t know if I’m happy about it,” he joked, adding that he loved start-ups, but “to build a brand you need a lot of money – d’Esclans has cost almost €25 million to do”.

His decision to make Hong Kong his new home stems from repeated visits and his admiration for Asia.

“I’ve been going to Hong Kong twice a year for the last 20 years and China is fascinating; I’m very much looking forward to moving my family to Asia.”

“There is another mentality,” he added, speaking of a less risk-averse business culture compared to France, which, he said, is “very conservative,” when it comes to investments.

Looking back and speaking of Château Prieuré-Lichine, the Bordeaux estate Lichine inherited from his father Alexis in 1989 and then offloaded in 1999, Sacha said, “One reason I sold Prieuré-Lichine was because I had put the cherry on the cake and there was not much more to get out of it.”

Sacha had invested heavily in the château, extending the cellars as well as vineyard area, and a decade after he took over the business, the Ballande Group – a mining, agricultural and transport firm based in New Caledonia – bought Prieuré-Lichine for US$28.5 million.

Turning to more recent times, he admitted that Château d’Esclans, which he acquired in 2006, “was about to break even” with a production of 25,000 cases, 10,000 of which are sold in the US.

The brand’s top tier, called Garrus, which has a 3-5,000 bottle production and €80 price tag, Sacha said he “has no problems selling”.

“Half the production goes to private yacht owners in the Mediterranean,” he reported.

Speaking further of this market, he said: “There are 1,000 mega yachts in the world and another 1,000 in construction, and what better place to drink a mega rosé?”

Sacha even said that he was sometimes asked to send the dimensions of Château d’Esclans three-litre bottle formats to yacht builders to make sure the fridges could accommodate them.

While he described the last four years building the d’Esclans brand as “a fabulous experience,” he added that it had been “a tough one.”

He also told db that he’s investing a further €2m into d’Esclans to extend the winery and storage facilities.

As for a new brand launch, he said he was considering the possibility of a Chinese wine or “maybe a rosé in Australia.”

Patrick Schmitt, 22.07.2010