It’s the end of the El Dorado for Chinese investors in Bordeaux: after more than a decade of frenetic buyouts, many of them are looking to resell their châteaux.
But others persist despite the crisis, for“love of wine”.
With its square battlement tower flanked by turrets, Château Latour Laguens, located in a valley in Entre-Deux-Mers, was in 2008 one of the first wine properties bought by a Chinese company in the first AOC vineyard in France , where there were more than 200.
Photographed in the middle of 30 hectares of vines, classified as AOC Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur, the young heiress of the Longhai International group and owner of the premises, Daisy Haiyan Cheng, was then teeming with development projects for the neo-medieval building: tasting room, boutique and luxurious guest rooms.

Château Latour Laguens, in Saint-Martin-du-Puy, in Gironde, September 5, 2024 / Philippe LOPEZ / AFP
Today, Château Latour, marked by humidity and simply populated by a nest of bats, is up for sale at auction.
Price, without the vines: 150,000 euros.
Other Chinese-flagged properties have changed hands in recent years.
Blocked funds
In mid-May, the courts confiscated nine castles acquired in the early 2010s by Chinese tycoon Naijie Qu, boss of the Haichang group, after his conviction for laundering embezzlement of Chinese public funds and misuse of corporate assets.

Château Latour Laguens, in Saint-Martin-du-Puy, in Gironde, September 5, 2024 / Philippe LOPEZ / AFP
In August 2022, the châteaux Lapin d’Or, Lapin Impérial, Grande Antelope or Antilope Tibetaine, renamed by their ex-owner Chi Keung Tong, boss of the Hong Kong group SGV Wines – causing an outcry in Bordeaux’s Landerneau -, regained their name of origin after their resale to French investors.
“The Chinese can no longer invest abroad because their funds are blocked in China” since Beijing drastically strengthened capital controls, explains Li Lijuan, real estate agent and Asian market specialist at Vineyards-Bordeaux.
Currently, around “50 castles are for sale” she assures. Not counting the owners who “wait for a more favorable time”due to a lack of buyers in the midst of an overproduction crisis in Bordeaux.
In a sluggish real estate market, “there are great opportunities”: goods have been sold “less than half the purchase price”indicates the intermediary, known as a singer in China.
“Some buyers came to buy a French way of life with a beautiful building, much cheaper than an apartment in Hong Kong or Shanghai but without worrying about the good financial health of the estates and future investments”she explains.
Temps court
To the “misrecognition”SAFER also adds a “poor estimation of production costs” – higher than those of a family farm – and a “overestimation of the ability to market” their bottles, more expensive to produce than imported Bordeaux.

A winemaker in the cellars of the Château des Chapelains, owned by Zhang Rong, in Saint-André-et-Appelles, in Gironde, September 26, 2024 / Philippe LOPEZ / AFP
“Their model was to buy entry-level properties hoping for immediate profitability, with the idea of doing a pirouette by producing a wine for less than 5 euros to resell it for 20, 40 euros, or even 100 euros in their distribution network »underlines Benoît Léchenault, director of Agrifrance, a subsidiary of BNP Paribas specializing in prestigious rural land assets.
Since Covid, Bordeaux has attracted less in a country that has become a producer and where consumption is falling (-25% in 2023 according to the OIV, the International Wine Organization).
Hail, mildew and other climatic hazards also discourage these recent buyers whereas, in viticulture, it takes between two and three years before a first accounting period.
“Europeans think in terms of generations, the Chinese think in terms of five years after which it is normal to resell”analyzes Hugo Tian, Hong Kong financier and owner of Château Fauchey (AOC Cadillac Côtes de Bordeaux)

An employee works in the vineyards of Château des Chapelains, owned by Zhang Rong, in Saint-André-et-Appelles, in Gironde, October 2, 2024 / Philippe LOPEZ / AFP
“For the Chinese, trade is short-term”further summarizes Li Lijuan, who also notes “different corporate cultures” with “constant changes of direction”.
A technical director, requesting anonymity, told AFP that he had not met “only once in four years” his former boss. He says he suffered “unmanageable demands”“unsuitable for the vine cycle” in this château in Entre-Deux-Mers, managed as “a shoe box company”.
“We’re hanging on”
But other investors are putting down roots.
The Chinese billionaire and founder of the Alibaba e-commerce group, Jack Ma, spent lavishly to restructure the Château de Sours (Entre-Deux-Mers).

Peter Kwok, Hong Kong businessman born in Vietnam, owner of seven Bordeaux castles, in front of the Bellefont-Belcier castle, in Saint-Laurent-des-Combes, in Gironde, April 11, 2018 / GEORGES GOBET / AFP/Archives
Peter Kwok, a Hong Kong businessman born in Vietnam, at the head of seven Bordeaux châteaux, including a Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé, is investing “long term” by restructuring vines and buildings “sleeping beauties”.
“He wants to leave a positive mark because he is fundamentally in love with France, its wine and its culture”adds Jean-Christophe Meyrou, general manager of Vignobles K who are considering purchasing new properties.
At Château des Chapelains, purchased in 2014, owner Zhang Rong “clings”. This “winemaker like any other”who initially came to look for grape varieties for a family vineyard in Gansu (north-west of the country), “labels her bottles”, in the Bordeaux and Sainte-Foy Côte de Bordeaux appellation, says an employee.
On its 48 hectares, it produces 300,000 bottles of different vintages, some of which are medal winners, while remaining ” faithful “ to the teachings of the former owner, from whom she “kept customers and restaurants”.

The owner of Château des Chapelains, Zhang Rong (l) and her cellar master taste a new harvest in the estate’s cellars, in Saint-André-et-Appelles, on September 26, 2024 in Gironde / Philippe LOPEZ / AFP
“We have to work hard because the situation has never been so difficult”she confides.
Hugo Tian him too “still holds the bar”. “Optimistic in the medium and long term”he now relies on the sharper palate of a “young generation” of Chinese consumers “looking for natural or organic wines rather than prestigious vintages”.
“In a few years, new Chinese investors will return, more rational and reasonable”he predicts.