Bernard Magrez in Bordeaux
Bernard Magrez in Bordeaux.
(Image credit: Georges Gobet / AFP / Getty)

Multi-millionaire Bernard Magrez, owner of Château Pape Clement in Bordeaux, has bought a parcel of vines in the region's St-Estèphe appellation in order to create a new, small-scale wine label.

Bernard Magrez said the small plot of vines in St-Estèphe in northern Médoc would produce just 3,000 bottles of wine annually.

He did not reveal a purchase price. Vineyards in St-Estèphe cost an average 350,000 euros per hectare in 2014, according to French land agency Safer.

The wine will be bottled under the newly-created name of Clos Sanctus Perfectus, and will comes from vines in a plot known as La Peyre, in the Marbuzet sector of St-Estèphe.

The first vintage will be 2016, said Magrez, who was this year named the 94th richest person in France by Challenges magazine. He has a fortune of 700 million euros, the publication estimated.

‘This purchase is a continuation of our search for rare and under-valued terroirs,’ a spokesperson for Magrez said of the acquisition.

Bernard Magrez is owner of four classified properties comprising Pape Clement, Clos Haut-Peyraguey, Fombrauge and La Tour Carnet.

He owns dozens of other properties worldwide, but announced in 2015 that that he was looking to sell his 13 non-classified Bordeaux estates while adding to his classified properties.

‘Clearly Bernard Magrez has not stepped back from his commitment to increase the number of classified estates under his ownership,’ said a press release announcing the latest purchase in St-Estèphe.

Clos Sanctus Perfectus will be sold only through a small number of wine shops worldwide, it added.

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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.

Roederer awards 2016: International Feature Writer of the Year