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A vineyard as a sign of wealth
September 2009

A vineyard can indicate to prosperity of its owner, as appears from the recent poll of the richest 500 people in France, conducted by Challenge magazine.

Each tenth Frenchman in the rating owns a winemaking estate, but wine is not a core business for many.

Bernard Arnault, the second wealthiest French, is the Chairman, CEO and major shareholder of LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy). The group owns Champagne houses Krug and Moet & Chandon, Bordeaux chateaux Yquem и Cheval Blanc and Cognac house Hennessy.

His rival Francois Pinault (6 place) owns a no less impressive empire of luxury goods through PPR holding, as well as a nice accessory — Bordeaux Premier Cru Chateau Latour.

Fashion industry is a key income source for the Wertheimer family (10 place). Along with Chanel, they own two Bordeaux estates — Chateau Canon in Saint Emilion and Rauzan Segla in Margaux.

Other industries which provided wealth for buying vineyards are construction (the Bouyges on 21 place, with Chateau Montrose in Saint Estephe), automobile (the Peugeot family on 26 place, with part ownership of Guiraud in Sauternes), real estate (the Frey family on 90 place, with Chateau La Lagune in Haut Medoc), oil (Perrodo, with Chateau Labegorce in Margaux) and others.

Food industry perhaps has the closest links with winemaking, so no wonder several rich vineyard owners also own prominent food companies. For example, Michel Reybier (Chateau Cos d’Estournel in Saint Estephe), on 75 place, made a fortune on meat delicacies, while the Picard family (Chateau Jean Faure in Saint Emilion) — on frozen foods.

Moving on to the drinks industry, one of the most recognised names is the Ricard family (24 place) who started with pastis and grew to the Pernod Ricard conglomerate, owner of vineyards in France, Australia and Argentina, as well as Mumm Champagne and Martell Cognac. Bernard Magrez (82 place) who is behind several premium brands from Bordeaux to California first made his fortune in cheap spirits.

And what about wine? It can also be a source of great wealth as proved by Pierre Castel (13 place) who was born in Bordeaux and now owns the second largest French wine company Castel Wines. The name of famous Burgundy negociant Jean-Claude Boisset appears in the middle of the poll (276 place). Both Frenchmen first made money with inexpensive wines and then built premium and superpremium ranges.