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Featured property | Domaine du Grand MayneA growinginvestmentExceptional English-owned ‘model’wine business for saleHLL Humberts Leisure, has been instructed to market theDomaine du Grand Mayne vineyard near Bergerac, S W France, andits associated UK business, WineShare.Domaine du Grand Mayne is perfectly located just 5 kms from thecharming, fortified ‘bastide’ town of Duras and 20 kms from themain city of Bergerac with the regional airports of Bergerac andBordeaux offering regular flights to many UK destinations.Domaine du Grand Mayne is a ‘model’ vineyard started fromscratch some 20 years ago by husband and wife team, Andrew &Edwina Gordon. Andrew, who has been in the wine trade all hisworking life, bought the run-down farm at Villeneuve de Duras, inthe much sought after Appellation Contrôlée region of Côtes deDuras in 1985, and has transformed it into a state of the art, awardwinning winery with all the latest wine production and storageequipment. 34 hectares are now planted with mature vinesgrowing a variety of the classic grapes of the region, allowing theproduction of high quality red, white and rosé wines. The estateextends to 40 hectares in total.What really sets Domaine du Grand Mayne apart from othervineyards for sale is WineShare, the marketing arm of the vineyardbased at Dorking in Surrey, which was launched in 1986 and wasthe first vineyard ‘rent a vine’ concept. It now boasts over 5,000members. Wine sales to loyal owners/customers of WineShare now accountfor some 69% of the total production ofDomaine du Grand Mayne which givesthe Domaine a significant advantageover comparable French vineyards andunderpins the overall business with aunique and secure income base.Over the intervening years, significantimprovements to the estate have beenmade. The old farmhouse has been restoredto provide a comfortable home for the onsitemanager. A new villa, with 5 en-suitebedrooms, was built in 1989 as the principalresidence, for owner occupation or holidayletting and has a magnificent pool. And atthe entrance to the estate there is anothertraditional stone house with large storagefacility that is currently used as a worker’sresidence but could equally be converted toholiday letting.In addition, there is bright, modern officeaccommodation and tasting room. Mostrecently, in 2004, a new shop/visitorwelcome centre and extensive semiunderground,climate controlled cellarswere carved into the hillside.18 Spring 2007
Featured property | Domaine du Grand MayneThe State of the French Wine MarketThe UK thirst for wine has more than doubled in the last 15years to a healthy 24 litres per head per annum. During this timethe market has moved from being very traditional. In the early1990s most of the wine UK drinkers consumed was importedfrom European countries and at that time France accounted forover 40% of wine imports into the UK, followed closely by Spain,Germany and Italy.Since then, starting with the introduction of New World winesfrom Australia, the demand from many New World countries hasgrown to the extent that today they represent more than 50% ofthe total market. The percentage of imports has changed so thatcurrently Australia, the market leader has 23% share of market,France is second with 18%, California third with 16% – thereafterfollowed closely by Spain, Italy, Chile and South Africa.During these evolving years France, until the new Millennium,was gaining in volume because the total wine consumptiongrew, but losing its percentage of market share. However duringthe last five years the actual volume of French wine imports hasdecreased.Why is this? New World wines have appealed to the new winedrinkers (and indeed many of the mature ones) because thewines are clearly branded and sold using the varietal name ofthe grape. Certain varietals such as Cabernet, Merlot, Shiraz,Chardonnay and Sauvignon are now household names whichmany people recognise and know what they should taste like.The taste appeal of these wines is that they are soft, round, fullflavouredwines which are easy to drink and suit many people’smodern palate. The long-term concern for not just French,but many European wine producers, is that it is very cheap toproduce everyday standard wines in many of these New Worldcountries and as result they are very competitively priced.However where Europe, and France in particular can score, iswith the more sophisticated wines that are produced fromthe quality regions that are controlled by government bodies– such as the ‘Appellation Contrôlée’ regions of France. Theseregulations ensure that grapes are only grown on the best soil,under strict quality conditions with a yield of wine that is alsolimited to avoid overproduction which produces diluted, lessflavoursome wines. Domaine du Grand Mayne could benefitmore from varietal branding – Sauvignon for the white, Merlot/Cabernet for the red - if it chose to compete in the wider market.There is a strong following for these quality regional wines ifthey are well made, well presented and competitively priced.These quality French wines are holding their ground and at therecent Masters of Wine International Symposium in Californiait was forecast that, marketed in the right way, the future forthese wines was quite rosy. Confirmation that the French wineindustry is doing very well in emerging markets is demonstratedby China and Singapore where overall wine consumptionhas doubled in the last 5 years to about 5 million cases, ofwhich 50% is French. At the same Symposium other globalindications show that a percentage of the world market willmove away from the branded market and focus on knowledgeand information about wine and that companies involved inthis aspect of the leisure industry will have considerable growthopportunities in the future.Domaine du Grand Mayne and WineShare have indeed verycleverly created their own platform in this respect. Some 69%of the vineyard production is sold to its membership, whomay well explore fashionable wines elsewhere, but still havea sophisticated and informed approach to traditional Frenchwine consumption – of quality. This is evidenced by Domaine deGrand Mayne’s raft of national and international accolades overthe years and that for the second time in 5 years the vineyardhas won the coveted ‘Coup de Coeur’ in the renowned ‘GuideHachette’, the French bible for wine drinkers.WineShare also provides access for its purchasing membershipto 3 other award winning vineyards, namely ChâteauConstantin-Chevalier in the Provence foothills, Château dePizay in the Beaujolais area, and finally the magnificent CastelloVicchiomaggio in Chianti, in the Tuscany region of Italy.In many respects the Domaine du Grand Mayne vineyard andits WineShare business is therefore well ahead of the industryto counter cyclical fashions, compete head on for consistentquality, let alone its state of the art premises which just happento come with superb manager’s farmhouse and owner’s villa. Foradditional information log onto: www.WineShare.co.ukThe turnover of the combined businessesis in the order of £1.7m showing veryrespectable levels of profitability.Peter Sandes FNAEA FICBA, handling thesale at HLL Humberts Leisure, comments:“This is an excellent investment andlifestyle opportunity, especially for theserious wine lover. It is a rare chanceto acquire a first class business in aprime location with excellent furtherdevelopment potential.”Domaine du Grand Mayne and itsassociated UK business, WineShare, is forsale freehold. A guide price of £2.5 millionis set for this unique opportunity.ContactPeter Sandes FNAEA FICBA, Winchestere: peter.sandes@humberts-leisure.comt: +44 (0)1962 835 960Glenn Hickman BA, Londone: glenn.hickman@humberts-leisure.comt: +44 (0)20 7629 6700www.humberts-leisure.comHLL Humberts Leisure 19
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