Chinese buyers own 2% of Bordeaux chateaus

Workers pick grapes at a vineyard on Mount Helan in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.[Photos By Peng Zhaozhi/Xinhua]

More than 150 or 2 percent of vineyard chateaus in wine-making Bordeaux, Southwestern France, are now owned by Chinese, China Business News reported citing industry estimates.

Seeking beyond import business, the chateau investors aim to lock fine wine from production phase for their booming home market, where wine consumption grew 6.9 percent year-on-year, marking the world's number one, to 1.72 billion liters in 2016.

Bordeaux has seen explosive surge of Chinese investors over the past decade, while it took Belgian buyers about 70 years in comparison to acquire over 100 chateaus in the region, Li Lijuan, director of Christie's international real estate market in China, told the newspaper.

Chinese buyers spend on average 5 to 10 million euros on a chateau whose vineyard could take up 10 to 30 hectares, according to an industry works Le Vin, le Rouge, la Chine. Recent corporate investors include subsidiaries of local wine company Changyu and food conglomerate Bright Food Group and COFCO.

Valuation of the chateaus depends on its location, drainage condition, historical output, brand heritage and recognition, analysts said.

Investment return could be as high as 10 percent for those who have marketing and sales channels in China, Li said, adding that Chinese buyers also see chateaus as a resort for family or good real estate investment given long return period.

"About 20 years ago, Chinese economy was boosted by foreign capital including those from France, while nowadays Bordeax could use help from China to retain its world-class standard," Somalina Nguon-Guignet, managing director of French property specialist IFL, was quoted in the book as saying. "France ought to feel pleased by interests it receives from foreign investors."