Asian investors snap up three more Bordeaux properties

Chateau de Pic in the Cadillac Cotes de Bordeaux, Chateau l’Enclos in Sainte Foy la Grande and Chateau Patarabet in Saint Emilion are the latest Bordeaux estates to reportedly pass into the hands of Asian investors.

Patarabet… ‘change of owner’

This follows the recent announcement of the sale of Chateau La Fleur Jonquet in the Graves to Chinese architect Wengcheng Li.

Chateau Patarabet’s website has been announcing full sale of its stock ‘following change of owner’ for several months, but the final document has not yet been signed.

The 9ha estate has been owned by the Gombeau-Bordas family since 1920, but Madame Bordas was not prepared to comment on the expected date of completion.

‘As long as I am still owner, I have no comment to make,’ she told Decanter.com. It is believed, however, that the purchaser is a Singaporean investor who already owns one property in Saint Emilion.

Chateau L’Enclos has reportedly been sold to Cheng Qu, owner of the Haichang Group, and the driving force behind the Dalian wine festival in China.

He is already owner of numerous Bordeaux estates including Chateau Baby (also in Sainte Foy), Chateau Chenu-Lafitte and Chateau Branda. This 24-ha property has been owned by Isabelle and Eric Bonneville since late 2002, and has Stéphane Derenoncourt as wine consultant.

Another recent transaction, a spokesperson at the chateau confirmed, is the 44ha Chateau de Pic in Cadillac. The estate was on the market for at least three years prior to its purchase by Chinese industrialist Mr Wu, whose principal activity is the distribution of baiju alcohol in China. Wu has employed a Chinese manager to live full-time at the property.

There are at least two other transactions that are due to go through in the next month, Decanter.com understands, including one large Fronsac property.

Written by Jane Anson in Bordeaux