My wife and are planning a trip to Bordeaux in a few weeks to look at vineyards that are for sale. We are interested in finding one which is under 10ha and produces between 15,000 and 30,000 bottles a year. We would live and work at the vineyard full time.
We are both U.S. citizens and I was wondering if there is anyone out there who has either purchased property in France or has look into it extensively. If so, I would love to hear from you and find out about your experiences. Also, feel free to email me if you don’t want to post.
My wife and I just returned from our visit to France to look at vineyards. The owners could not have been more informative, open and helpful. Every one we met offered to stay on for an extra year to make sure the transition to new owners went smoothly.
One small property we really liked is an organic/biodynamic in Cahors- Coeur du Quercy. All equipment from the winery and vineyard is included along with a stock of about 14,000 bottles ranging in age back to 1995. The couple who runs it are getting older and slowing production but will still live near the property to offer advice and help when need. The biggest problem here is the house, which needs quite bit of renovation before it is livable.
There was another small one of about 4 ha in Peycharmant. The house is small for my family but all the wine is sold to nearby restaurants and directly to customers. It is a very simple set up which allows the wine to be sold out every year with a good profit margin. My concern is there is not much room to grow the business although the simplicity is attractive.
Out of the larger vineyards we visited, one is Montravel stuck out. There are about 11ha of organic vines and only 25,000 bottles are produced with the rest of the wine sold in bulk. They presently have a couple exporters including one to Asia. The property is beautiful and we feel there is la lot of opportunity to grow the business after a couple of years. The problem is there is an extra house on the property which would need to be purchased so it would not go to another owner. It adds about €200,000 to the price but has a wonderful wraparound deck which could make a very nice 3 bedroom rental.
Thanks everyone. We are getting closer to purchasing a 10ha organic vineyard near Bergerac but are awaiting more information from the banks. It may be difficult for us to secure a loan using the income from the vineyard. Instead of considering the purchase a commercial one, the only option they may give us is for a residential loan, which means our budget will need to be lowered by quite a bit.
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