To the manor born

A château in deepest France, surrounded by bush-trained vines and providing a decent income, is not a hopeless fantasy. But it's no bed of roses either. Laura Henderson finds out more

For those game enough or mad enough to try their hand at winemaking, now is apparently a good time. One couple enjoying the grand cru lifestyle are Neil and Olivia Donnan, who have spent the last 10 years coaxing an under-performing vineyard back to life.
"If you've never tasted a late-harvest Château Masburel moelleux '98 with foie gras, then you've missed one of life's golden pleasures," smiles Neil, as he pours me a glass.

The couple's full-bodied adventure started 12 years ago, when they spotted an advert in a Sunday newspaper for vineyard property. Olivia had just completed a French degree at Queen Mary and Westfield College in London and the couple had been discussing the possibility of starting up a joint business. They arranged to view a handful of estates in southwest France before staking their claim on Château Masburel, near the town of Ste Foy La Grande, west of Bergerac.
"The château was founded in 1740 by Jean de Sembellie, a consul to King Louis XV," explains Neil. "We have 82 acres, three quarters of which are now planted to vine, with the remainder a mix of park and woodland."

The extremely elegant property overlooks a Turner-like landscape, with a pristine overlaid pattern of vines and towering cypress trees. Olivia says she can still remember the first time they viewed the estate.
"I remember thinking that the place needed a lot doing. The château's external stonework was covered with grey crepis (concrete), the courtyard was an unrecognisable mud pile, and the leaking roof had created enormous damp patches on the walls. But we could see the potential," she says.

Two further site visits followed and, after three months of negotiation, their £450,000 offer was accepted. But financing the move forced a reappraisal of their retirement plans. "While we could afford to buy the château by selling our townhouse in Chelsea Harbour," explains Neil,  "we knew that I'd have to continue working until the vineyard began to generate an income." Fortune gave them an unexpected boost when they discovered that the estate's vines lay on the same clay ridge that resurfaces in the famous Bordeaux appellation of St Emilion, just half an hour to the west. "We had a further soil analysis undertaken just to be sure, then it was all stations go," says Olivia.

Vineyard affairs dominated for the ensuing months, with Olivia thrown in at the deep end upgrading and insulating the winery in time for the harvest.

"I took advice early from Richard Doughty, a fellow wine grower, and recruited Eric Combret, an experienced local vineyard manager who agreed to take on the running of the estate," she explains. "Having an experienced pair of hands on board at this early stage enabled me to get stuck into the château renovations and focus on finding a new market for the wine, while a replant of the previous season's perished vines was carried out."

As planning permission wasn't required for the château renovations, Olivia set about recruiting a team of reliable artisans and builders to take the project forward. Two locally based English builders agreed to handle the bulk of the structural works, and she managed to assemble a core group to tackle the plumbing, electrics and roofing by word of mouth. Her first priority was knocking down the unsightly breezeblock partition wall erected by the previous owner, which had divided the property in two.

"I set up a den in the dining room to keep my sanity," she laughs, "not realising it would become my home for the next 18 months. Neil was travelling extensively with work and only back at weekends, so I had no choice but to get on with it. At one stage we had 20 men hammering and drilling away, including a roofing team of four, not to mention a family of skips in the courtyard." A much-needed boost came 12 months in when their first white wine won a gold medal in a French wine competition. "I knew then that we were on the right track with the wine business if we could just keep our heads above the parapet."

Eight years on, having blown a refurb budget of £200,000, the Donnan's acquisition is now a cherished home. A crackling log fire welcomes you in the kitchen, while Olivia's keen eye for antiques lends the place a nostalgic charm. Outside, the courtyard terrace is decked with a wrought iron table and chairs. "It's our sun spot," says Neil, "when we can steal half an hour to sit down with a glass of wine."
Time has also proved useful in cementing community relations. "The locals were initially wary of us," says Neil, "but they're now much more forthcoming and appreciative because we're playing our part in putting Bergerac wines on the map. Our red wine has been rated by France's top wine writer, Michel Bettane, as one of the top five wines in the southwest, including the 'Premier Grands Crus Bordeaux' such as Chateaux Latour and Lafitte. We're also now supplying some of the top restaurants in London."

Despite their frenetic pace of life, the couple both seem keen to raise the bar higher still. "I'd personally love to start running wine appreciation courses and share a little of what we've learnt over the past few years," confirms Olivia. "Who knows what we might pull out of the hat next."

A market on the move

Often seen as a cross between a commercial property and a holiday-home, vineyards are being snapped up for a relative song in wine-producing regions across France. You can expect to pay at least £500,000 for anything decent. The surge from the New World and consumer demand for a better quality tipple have revolutionised the economics of the wine industry, which has had an impact on property prices, with poor sales of vin ordinaire forcing small-scale vignerons to sell up or face bankruptcy.

"Estate values are dictated by location, the quality of terroir and the wine produced," explains Sarah Francis of property agents Sifex, "as well as the type of property and whether or not they are established producers".

The minimum budget for an estate is £500,000, plus the finance to purchase stock and cover costs for the first 18 months. This is because the cycle from growing to bottling takes that long. "Operating costs can vary between £2,500 and £4,000 per hectare, although it takes three years for new vines to make decent wine," adds Francis.

According to Segolene Berry of French estate agents Cabinet Bedin, many regions are raising their wine profile. "The Pays de Rhone has been quiet for a while, but is now picking up. The Medoc is also active, as is St Emilion in the Grand Libournais. Smaller estates with three to 12 hectares of vines are selling for around £400,000, while full production vineyards of over 100 hectares start at around £1.2m."

Around half of Montpellier-based Vignobles Investissement's clients are from overseas, of which 25 per cent are British. "Most buyers get stuck in and make a go of it," explains wine consultant Adam Dakin. "The main stumbling block is technical expertise, although companies like ours can source consultants to advise on equipment." Dakin confirms that 20-40 hectares with a winemaker's house will cost, but adds, "prices can easily go beyond £3m," depending on location and quality.

In the Languedoc, it's the property that pushes prices higher, while in Bordeaux and Burgundy, the terroir and calibre of vines have a greater bearing on value. "Some owners may also be forced to start production from scratch, due to unsuitable machinery or poor quality vines, while others will hold out for a going concern with existing staff," adds Dakin.

The basics

• Before buying: make a satellite survey of the vineyards, do a winery check for contamination, and a vine check for viruses. Pre-emption rights also need to be ascertained, and an application made to the Chamber of Agriculture for the authorisation to farm.

• The purchase process can take several months, but vines don't stop growing. It's important to have an arrangement in place with the vendor to farm the estate before you officially take over.

• It's worth paying a premium for an estate with good vines and an established reputation.

• 20 hectares will make around 130,000 bottles of wine.

• Where possible, avoid buying from, or selling to, wine cooperatives, or selling bulk wine.

• Banks generally only finance 30 per cent of the purchase price of a vineyard, so buyers will need to access 70 per cent of the purchase price themselves.