Hong Kong company purchases Château Fauchey

Profitsun Holdings (Hong Kong), a Chinese property investment company, has purchased Château Fauchey, a Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux AOC estate in Bordeaux, for an undisclosed amount.

The sale included the 25-ha estate and its wine stock, according to a press release by Maxwell-Baynes-Vineyards, exclusive affiliates to Christie’s International Real Estate. The company is responsible for quite a few Bordeaux vineyard sales to Chinese investors including, most recently, the sale of Domaine de Bellair in Castillon to a Chinese company called Golden Field earlier in January.

In recent years, investors in China have bought an increasing number of vineyards and wineries in France and beyond, as domestic demand for imported wines continues to grow. In Bordeaux alone, more than 100 estates have been sold to Chinese investors in the past few years and Chinese companies have also been pumping money into other New World winemaking countries such as Australia and Chile.

China’s biggest online wine retailer YesMyWine’s parent company recently invested AU$16.5 million in Australian Vintage, while Changyu, China’s largest domestic wine producer and a leading wine importer, snapped up vineyards in Chile in addition to its purchases in Spain and France.

The 15^th century Bordeaux estate was bought by the Emmanuelli family in 2010 and has since gone through considerable changes in renovating the estate and replanting the vines. In 2013, the winery was certified organic after converting into organic farming in 2010.

There’s also a wine tourism programme created by the winery called ‘chambres d’hôtes’ in 2014 with guest rooms overlooking the surrounding vineyards.

The Chinese company’s president Hugo Tian, who is a self-proclaimed wine expert and connoisseur, will be managing the estate and its vineyards, of which 6.51 ha are located in the Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux AOC.

“After having poured my life into this property for the past seven years, it is particularly pleasing to pass on the property to someone interested in organic agriculture and the architecture of this exceptional Château, as well as the continuation of our wine tourism project,” said Mrs. Emmanuelli while coming on the sale.

Xu said: “We were looking for a vineyard with a beautiful Château to welcome people belonging to our group and our clubs. We intend to distribute the wines to members of our clubs located mainly in Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong.”