The Next Opus One? A New Bordeaux-Napa Venture

As we covered earlier in the quarter, Opus One was born out of a partnership between Robert Mondavi of the Napa Valley, and Baron Philippe de Rothschild of Bordeaux’s Château Mouton Rothschild. Recently, a number of additional partnerships between the regions have emerged -- for instance, in 2013, Chateau Latour owner François Pinault purchased the 162-acre Araujo Estate. Most recently, as referenced in Forbes (see link below) Château Pontet-Canet released its inaugural vintage of its new Napa label, Pym-Rae, last month. The family run estate was interested in expansion opportunities and concluded that Bordeaux was too expensive (the average price was €6.25m per hectare in 2018, up by 4% on 2017 and double the price from 2011). Further, Spain was too small, and Italy was a poor cultural fit, thus leading them to Napa. Upon purchasing the Pym-Rae estate in 2016, the family brought with them several of their best practices already in place at their Bordeaux operation: "they stopped irrigation and introduced dry farming—where vines learn to grow with water provided from natural rainfall—and brought in cows to serve as lawn mowers (not to mention fertilizer producers) during the winter months." The family plans to start out with a small production of 10,000 bottles, retailing at ~$350. 



https://fortune.com/2020/02/26/bordeaux-napa-red-wine-pym-rae-chateau-pontet-canet/

https://www.decanter.com/wine-news/french-vineyard-prices-rise-418811/