Winery & Vineyard For Sale

Mr Chevet in front of his chai Touraine, Loire.
No, wineterroirs isn't interested in competing with ebay, although I could consider a change of philosophy for the website if a buyer rewards me for finding his dream-winery...
My friend Michelle tipped me about an estate in Touraine going on sale by its owner, and I thought it might interest some of you. By "you", I mean not only the prospective buyers but also people like you and me who never really think of setting up a winery but have some curiosity about such property sales. Michelle heard about it by word of mouth and the owner didn't put the sale on any specialized website.Jacques Chevet in front of his Sauvignon vineyard I'll try to give you a description as complete as possible of the estate, along with its price tag. The estate is located in Chatillon sur Cher, along the Cher river (north bank) in the Loire, not far from Saint Aignan. The facility includes this fully-renovated building [picture on top] with a new roof, this building having a ground surface of about 300 square meters (3300 square feet) and including a large chai, a separate vat room, the tasting room and 2 surface bottle-cellars, with additional surface in front- and behind the building.
The vineyard, which is very close to the facility, makes up 18 hectares (44,5 acres) : Sauvignon, Gamay, Cabernet and Cot (Malbec) the oldest being planted in 1964.

The chai (It is not clear if the cat is included) We walk around. The chai is fully equipped, with all kind of vats and shapes (no casks here) : stainless-steel, steel, resin. You can see in the background a grape elevator and the 20-hectoliter horizontal press, and the cooling unit for the juice is in my back. There is also a small bottling machine which works fine [see picture on right: his son shows me how it works], even though they also use the services of outside bottlers.
Mr Chevet, who lost his wife last year, reached retirement age and his children aren't interested in continuing the business. He is the 3rd known generation as a vigneron. He followed suit to his father in 1960 with 8 hectares at the time, as they were also growing different vegetables.Other vats behind the chaiMr Chevet works a conventional viticulture (he excused himself because there were a few weeds between the rows...) but he is a member of the Terra Vitis chart for a reasoned agriculture. All his vineyard is on the Touraine Appellation, which means that all the wines are single-variety wines, the label reading "Touraine Sauvignon, or Touraine Cabernet for example. His production is split roughly equally between white and red wine. The bottle price here is 3,1 to 3,3 Euro (including their pink) and the sparkling costs 5 Euro, which are prices rather common around here.Looking at the underground vatsHe shows me a vat room with different containers, including several underground vats that he uses for the malolactic fermentation. I can't speak really about his wines as I only tasted the Cot which is not the easiest variety to taste young, but the estate's website gives a decription of the wines with a few words about the vinifications. And I think that a potential buyer has his own idea about the type of wines that he want to make, and a tasting will not be the only factor in his choice (but I should have asked to taste the other wines).Filling a glass in the bulk-wine side of the tasting room Clean and equipped tasting room, with a bar, and on the side the stainless-steel vats used for the sale in bulk. Many locals come with their containers for a filling at a price per liter of about 2 Euro. Mr Chevet sells one third of his wine locally (in bottles or in bulk), the rest being sold (in bulk) to several Negoce houses, in the Paris region, in Western France and in Belgium (the Sauvignon).
On the machines side, he sells also all the machines for the vineyard, including the tractor, the spraying machine, the special elevated tractor (named "enjambeur" in France) and a harvest gondola, among others.
The estate/winery is still in activity until he sells it. He has two employees.
What about the price tag now ? He sells either separately or in one block the vineyard and the equipped facility:
__The 18-hectare vineyard : 228 000 Euro
__The fully-equipped chai with the viticulture machines : 300 000 Euro
This makes a total price tag of 528 000 Euro. That's about the price of a 100-square-meter (1076 square feet) flat in Paris, and not in the best neighborhood, and to compare with the most expensive french vineyard real estate : One hectare (2,47 acres) of vineyard in Champagne costs 650 000 Euro...That's still a lot of money but I'm sure that a few readers already dream of a new life...contact@domaine-chevet.comFax +33 2 54 71 07 11domaine-chevet.com

Comments

[hikalu]

The 100-square-meter in Paris is that expensive!? and The vineyard in Champagne is 18 times more expensive than in Loire!? Was that excluding the fully-equipped chai with the viticulture machines? Wow..
I'm not the person who can buy them though, I really wonder how much it will cost to run the winery after pay 528,000 euro initial investment.

[DB]

This sounds like a bargain, though I know first-hand how the romantic notion of tending a vineyard can quickly transform into crawling in the dirt trying to avoid one disaster after another. Still...at this price, with a realistic outlook and some first-hand knowledge, plus perhaps an upgrade in the marketing department, it sounds like an ideal investment.

The folks in my office are pooling resources and crafting a plan. Thanks for the fantasy.

[Ramesh Vittal]

Sounds great, definitely exciting!
I'd like to start a winery in India, anybody willing
to collaborate?

[Duncan Mccredie]

Ramesh, I have just mived to Bombay and am keen to explore starting a vineyard in India. Where are you based - perhaps we should meet?

[Ankush Mittal]

Owning a Vineyard and as much as a winery is a very awesome notion and seems dreamy, but at that price, possible.

Currently like Ramesh we are also interested in opening a winery. We are going ahead with or without a collaboration. Though in today's world the brand matters. A simple mention of a french winemaker on our label could double the sales overnight.

For that reason we are also searching for possible partners/wine makers/collaborators. If anyone is interested please do feel free to contact me at mittal0286[at]gmail[dot]com

[Nicolas]

still on sale?