Jack Ma, billionaire founder of Alibaba and owner of Château de Sours in Bordeaux, has added Château Perenne in Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux to his portfolio of wine estates in the region.

Jack Ma buys Château Perenne

The sale, which was completed last month for a reported €16 million, will see this 64 hectare estate, planted with mainly the Merlot grape, become Ma’s second château in the region.

Ma, who is China’s second richest person and founder of online retailer Alibaba, caused a stir in Bordeaux earlier this year after announcing he had bought Château de Sours.

Bernard Magrez, who has owned Perenne since 1997, announced in 2015 that that he was looking to sell his 13 non-classified Bordeaux estates while adding to his four classified properties of Pape Clement, Clos Haut-Peyraguey, Fombrauge and La Tour Carnet.

‘This continues our strategy of moving our emphasis away from wines that have a consumer price of €8 and below. I am still looking to buy further classified estates within the Bordeaux region,’ Magrez told Decanter.com.

Perenn is also used for the vines that went into the Gerard Depardieu’s wine Confiance – as a long time friend of Magrez.

The estate comes with extensive grounds and an attractive château building that dates back to the 1870s, and produces both red and white wines.

Ma did not buy the estate under his own name but through Château de Sours, the Entre deux Mers property that he bought in February 2016.

Renovations at Château de Sours itself are ongoing, with Ma also securing several neighbouring buildings that he is due to turn into his own personal residence, leaving Château de Sours for business.

Ma has since formed a partnership with several other Chinese owners in Bordeaux to create a négociant company, Cellar Privilege.

Ma’s personal fortune is estimated at US$21.5 billion according to Forbes.

Editing by Ellie Douglas.

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Jane Anson
Jane Anson

Jane Anson was Decanter’s Bordeaux correspondent until 2021 and has lived in the region since 2003. She writes a monthly wine column for Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post, and is the author of Bordeaux Legends: The 1855 First Growth Wines (also published in French as Elixirs). In addition, she has contributed to the Michelin guide to the Wine Regions of France and was the Bordeaux and Southwest France author of The Wine Opus and 1000 Great Wines That Won’t Cost a Fortune. An accredited wine teacher at the Bordeaux École du Vin, Anson holds a masters in publishing from University College London, and a tasting diploma from the Bordeaux faculty of oenology.

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