Millionaire Bernard Magrez buys vines in St-Estèphe

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.