Calon-Ségur owner buys three Right Bank estates

The owner of Château Calon-Ségur, French insurance group Suravenir, has acquired three Right Bank estates from the owner of Château Latour.

St-Emilion property Château Le Prieuré and Pomerol estates Château Vray Croix de Gay and Château Siaurac (Lalande-de-Pomerol) were sold by François Pinault’s Artémis Domaines to Suravenir earlier this month.

Details of the sale, including the price of the transaction for the three domains and even the reason for the sale have not been divulged by either party.

Bernard Le Bras, president of the directory for Suravenir, recently told Vitisphere, however, that vineyard holdings were proving attractive investments at present, with returns of 2% a year while that of the French government’s bond rate over 10 years is just -0.28%.

With Suravenir looking to expand its vineyard holdings and Artémis Domaines possibly seeking to off-load some minor properties in order to pay off the monster sum it paid for Burgundian monopole Clos de Tart in 2017 (for an estimated €250m), it is likely this proved serendipitous meeting of needs.

Artémis Domaines, whose portfolio boasts the likes of Latour, Château Grillet and the aforementioned Clos de Tart, initially acquired a minority stake in the three properties in 2014.

Suravenir, meanwhile, acquired the St Estèphe estates Calon-Ségur and Capbern Gasqueton (now simply named ‘Capbern’) in 2012. It was the group’s first foray into viticultural assets and its management of and investment in the estates since then has proved very successful.