International French footballers, Johan Micoud and Matthieu Chalmé, invest in a Pomerol vineyard with Alexandre de Malet Roquefort (of Château La Gaffelière) and civil engineer Jean-Luc Deloche :
The vineyard is small (1.45 hectares with only 9,000 square metres planted), but it is situated in Pomerol, one of the most famous Bordeaux appellations and probably the most expensive, not just in terms of land value but also price per bottle. Although the sale price was not disclosed, one hectare in AOC Pomerol can fetch over one million euros....
"I had been looking to buy a vineyard in Pomerol for a year when this opportunity came up. Together our aim is to produce an exceptional wine, a rarity too, as this year, our first harvest, the total production will not exceed 2,000 bottles!" explains Alexandre de Malet Roquefort, whose family already owns several wine properties in the Libourne area.
Château La Gaffelière is of course the flagship but the fleet also includes châteaux Tertre Dauguay and Armens (also in AOC Saint-Emilion) and Château Macaran in AOC Bordeaux Supérieur : in all a total of 80 hectares. In addition, the family also runs a wine merchant business in Saint-Emilion.
The recently acquired vines belonged to the Château des Templiers, joint ownership of 7 hectares (Lagrave family).
"This investment is a venture among friends", assures de Malet Roquefort, who is the major shareholder, "Both footballers love wine and want to learn more about it's subtleties."
Johan Micoud, who has just retired from the Girondins Bordeaux team and Mathieu Chalmé, defense player for Laurent Blanc's team, perhaps see this as an opportunity to link the sacred ball to a good bottle of red, following the example of a certain Jean Tigana who was once owner of a property in Listrac-Médoc.
César Compadre
doc@sudouest.com
S.O. 04/09/08
Translated by Maxine Colas.