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Source: Decanter Bordeaux first growth property Chateau Latour is reported to be for sale, with some pundits suggesting a purchase is close to completion.
Source: Decanter
Bordeaux first growth property Chateau Latour is reported to be for sale, with some pundits suggesting a purchase is close to completion.
According to the Sunday Times, the renowned Pauillac estate, owned since 1993 by French business tycoon François H. Pinault, is being quietly shopped by French investment bank Lazard.
Fellow mogul Bernard Magrez, leading a group of investors that may include Gérard Depardieu, is rumoured to be among the suitors. A sale to Magrez, who owns several vineyards including Pape Clement, would bring one of the original four 1855 classified first growths back into the hands of a resident Bordelais for the first time in decades.
The Château Latour estate comprises 78 hectares, but only grapes from the 47 hectares that directly surround the chateau - known as L'Enclos - go into the eponymous first wine. The other vines are used for the second label, Les Forts de Latour.
While the Sunday Times cites a potential pricetag of ?150m-200m (£145m-193m), sources in Bordeaux suggest that the property would 'not go for less than ?600m'.
The financial crisis has seen a number of Pinault's other investments falter. Shares in luxury goods conglomerate PPR (which includes Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent and Stella McCartney) - of which his holding company Groupe Artemis owns 42% - have fallen from ?105.50 on 1 January 2008 to ?45.18 on 30 December 2008.
Pinault, who was 39th on the Forbes 2008 Rich List, also owns Christie's auction house.
Neither Chateau Latour nor Bernard Magrez were available for comment.
