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

• 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.

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

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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.

More deals in the wine world so far this year: