DOMAINES BARONS DE ROTHSCHILD ACQUIRES WILLIAM FÈVRE

The William Fèvre estate has had something of a challenging time finding a permanent home lately. A little more than a year after the renowned top-tier Chablis producer was purchased by Artémis Domaines, it has once again been sold, this time to Domaines Barons de Rothschild for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition is DBR’s first move into Burgundy. Encompassing vineyards ranging from Chablis village status to Grand Cru across its 72 hectare estate, William Fèvre already follows organic farming principles, chiming with DBR’s approach, with all the wine group’s estates either organically certified or undergoing conversion.

DBR owns Château Lafite Rothschild, one of the largest estates in the Médoc, with more than 1,200 hectares of vineyards. Also among its portfolio are Bordeaux estates Château Duhart-Milon, Rieussec, Château Paradis Casseuil and Château L’Évangile and the Languedoc-based Domaine d’Aussières. Outside France, DBR owns Viña Los Vascos in Chile, Bodegas Caro in Argentina and Domaine de Long Dai in China. DBR’s first foray into Burgundy comes at a time when the region is seeing a renewed spark in the secondary market. The latest Power 100 fine wine list, compiled by global fine wine marketplace Liv-ex, revealed that four of the top 10 biggest risers on the list this year were Burgundy labels: Louis Latour, Hubert Lamy, Bruno Clair and Domaine Fourrier.