Are the Chinese About to Flee Bordeaux?

After buying up numerous estates in Bordeaux, some Chinese investors are looking for the exit. It turns out producing wine isn’t all smooth sailing. Jane Anson of Decanter reports that up to 40 Chinese owned Chateaux may be about to come back onto the market. She writes:

It is believed that around 160 châteaux in Bordeaux are under Chinese ownership, including investors based in Hong Kong, and there have been several deals this year; the most recent for Château Fauchey.

But, there has also been speculation that up to 40 Chinese-owned Bordeaux châteaux could be back on the market. It’s almost impossible to verify this. Vineyard sales are rarely advertised on the open market in Bordeaux, and plenty of estates could be for sale at the right price. But what is certainly true is that many Chinese buyers paid high prices per hectare in appellations where return on investment is a challenge at the best of times. Many of the more lavish announcements made at the time of purchase – restaurants, hotels and similar – have not materialized several years after the press conferences were called. And the much-reported strategy of taking wines out of their long-term sales circuits to concentrate purely on China was always going to be a tough ask for first-time chateaux owners.

Even so, the number of resales being offered seems exaggerated. But they have prompted more general talk of how Bordeaux’s Chinese investors are settling in to life in the vineyards. And after doing some digging, it certainly appears that some haven’t found it all plain sailing so far.