Buying a French Vineyard Was Never More Expensive

As Champagne recovers, wine real estate in Burgundy and the Loire Valley continues to go strong, while Bordeaux falters.

Pursuing a dream of becoming a winemaker in France has never been more expensive.

Vineyard prices in France rose 2.2% to a record in 2022, according to Safer, France’s rural property agency. The Champagne region partially recovered from a year-earlier slump, while wine property continued to appreciate in the most prestigious grape-growing areas of Burgundy and the Loire Valley. The Bordeaux region was an outlier, with values falling in some well-known wine areas.

Buying a hectare of vines, about the area of a rugby pitch, cost an average €151,200 in France last year, according to data published by Safer on May 25. Real estate demand in Champagne benefited from strong sales for the region’s sparkling wine, with record volumes last year following a rebound in 2021, according to Safer.

“After three years of decline, the average price per hectare in Champagne rises again, in a very active property market,” Safer said.

Excluding Champagne, the cost of vines with a French appellation of origin (AOP) increased 2% to a record €81,600 per hectare. The high cost of Champagne property means the region accounts for half of the wine real estate value in France, while making up 7% of the country’s planted AOP vineyard area.

Vineyard deals top €1 billion

The number of wine property deals rose 1.1% to 9,490 in 2022, the most transactions in 15 years, with 2.35% of France’s vineyard area changing hands. The value of the area that changed owner fell 7.9% to €1.01 billion, weighed down by wine real-estate transactions in the Bordeaux region falling 36% to €224 million.

In Champagne, the average price per hectare rose 2.4% to €1.07 million. For Burgundy’s Côte-d’Or growing area, average values rose 12% to €887,200 per hectare, boosted by a 15% jump for prices of both red and white premier cru, or first growth, vineyards.

In the Loire Valley, the price of a hectare of vines in Sancerre jumped 24% to €260,000, while Menetou-Salon registered a 13% increase to an average €90,000 per hectare.

“Since seven years, the increase in the average value has been driven by the regular increase of prices in the prestigious appellations, which benefit from an attractiveness as a safe haven for wealthy investors,” Safer said.

Average prices in the Bordeaux region fell 3.1% to €127,900 per hectare, with wine property values falling in areas including Pessac-Léognan and Médoc. Safer said the decline is due to commercial difficulties for the Bordeaux and Côtes de Bordeaux appellations, with vineyard prices stable in more prestigious areas such as Pauillac and Pomerol.