Bordeaux: Troplong Mondot sold as Bélair-Monange buys two estates

Highlights

St-Emilion's highly rated Château Troplong Mondot has been sold to French insurance company Scor in a week of deals on Bordeaux's Right Bank, with Moueix family-owned Bélair-Monange also agreeing to buy two estates. Reporting by Chris Mercer in London and Yohan Castaing in Bordeaux.

Troplong Mondot sold to insurance group Scor for unknown fee
Moueix family-backed Château Bélair-Monange agrees to buy Clos La Madeleine and Château Magnan La Gaffelière
In Cadillac further south, Château Fauchey sold to Hong Kong investor
Several more potential deals in the pipeline

Troplong Mondot deal

Scor has become the latest French insurance group to own a high-profile Bordeaux winery after news broke that it had bought Château Troplong Mondot, the St-Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé B estate, from the Valette-Pariente family.

A fee was not disclosed but it would likely have been at the higher end of the St-Emilion value scale.

French land agency ‘Safer’ said last year that St-Emilion vineyard prices ranged from 200,000 euros per hectare up to 2.5 million euros per hectare, depending on the site. Demand was outstripping supply, according to property consultancy Vineyard Intelligence.

See Jane Anson’s tasting note and rating for Troplong Mondot 2016

Xavier Pariente said that he would remain in charge at Troplong Mondot for the next three months, when Scor will appoint a new CEO.

Troplong Mondot has 33 hectares of vines, with 90% planted to Merlot, 8% to Cabernet Sauvignon and 2% to Cabernet Franc.

Clos La Madeleine and Magnan La Gaffelière

Separately, the Moueix family, headed by Christian Moueix and owner of some great domaines such as Trotanoy, Lagrange La Fleur-Pétrus and Latour à Pomerol, is set to add two new properties to its portfolio.

The family has agreed to buy Clos La Madeleine, a St-Emilion Grand Cru Classé, and Château Magnan La Gaffelière, a St-Emilion Grand Cru, via its existing ownership of Château Bélair-Monange.

‘The acquisition is in progress, we are waiting for the legal processes to be completed,’ Christian Moueix told Decanter.com.

With only 2.3 hectares, Clos La Madeleine is closest to Bélair-Monange and Château Ausone on the limestone plateau of St-Emilion and planted with 76% Merlot and 24% Cabernet Franc.

It was previously owned by more than 80 investors managed by Société Générale, a French bank and investment company.

Château Magnan La Gaffelière is a larger domaine with ‘a lot of plots’ covering 10 hectares, said Christian Moueix.

‘The terroirs are very diverse and very different to Bélair-Monange,’ he said.

‘For this reason we want to keep them separate from Château Bélair-Monange even if the acquisition was made by Bélair-Monange.’

As with all wines from the Moueix family, the wines will be distributed by Etablissements JP Moueix.