Chinese buyers are honing their taste for quality vineyards in France
As they buy higher-value rather than mediocre French vineyards, wealthy individuals and companies are showing increasing maturity
The quality and prices of French vineyards targeted by wealthy Chinese individuals and companies is rising, say industry players.
"Chinese are increasingly buying higher-quality vineyards. They are starting to understand quality," said Jerome Arbault, business development director of IFL, an international firm specialising in French properties including vineyards.
In December 2011, Chinese actress Vicky Zhao Wei and her husband, Huang Youlong, bought Chateau Monlot, a seven-hectare vineyard with a chateau in St Emilion, for about €5 million.
"This estate produces good- quality wine," Arbault said. "Previously, Chinese firms bought vineyards of so-so quality."
For example, in 2010, a Chinese billionaire, Cheng Qu, and other investors bought five chateaus with vineyards in France, including Chenu Lafitte, according to the wine trade press. The latter produces wine of only average quality, said Arbault. "It appears they bought the estate for the Lafitte name."
In 2008, a Chinese firm owned by the Cheng family in Qingdao, Longhai International Trading, bought Chateau Latour Laguens, a 60-hectare vineyard in Entre deux Mers in Bordeaux, The Washington Post reported. The estate produces 160,000 bottles per year, and the wine was of average quality, said Arbault.