Anyone can own a French vineyard - here's how to get started
Mark Stevens and Nicholas Cook, of Mayer Brown JSM, and Erwan Heurtel, of Mayer Brown's Paris office, discuss how to get started
In the past few years, there has been a marked increase in the number of wine-loving overseas investors seeking to buy vineyards in France.
This is particularly true of mainland investors, and has been coupled with Hong Kong's transformation into the region's wine hub following the abolition of duties in 2008.
Although not for everyone, there are many reasons why an investor might look to buy a vineyard, ranging from a desire to consolidate related business interests (such as wine distribution or retailing, or catering) to a thirst for a novel investment to the simple love of fine French wine.
Who can buy a French vineyard? There are generally no restrictions on investing on the basis of citizenship or jurisdiction of incorporation of the investor, and the short answer is that anyone can buy a vineyard.
This is subject to obtaining certain government approvals that apply to all such purchases and making certain administrative filings.
Generally, the starting price for a French vineyard is likely to be about €1 million (HK$10.3 million), but this will depend greatly on factors such as plot size, quality, reputation and whether the acquisition is just of real estate or of an entire business.