Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of the Chopard luxury watch business, has acquired major Bergerac wine estate Chateau Monestier La Tour.

Scheufele, a self-professed lover of Château Haut-Brion, opened rare Bordeaux specialist La Galerie des Arts du Vin in Geneva in 1996 and also owns Le Caveau de Bacchus, a chain of wine shops with branches in Geneva, Gstaad and Lausanne.

He and his wife Christine have been searching for a wine estate in France for many years, and ‘fell in love’ with Monestier La Tour, a 100-hectare hillside estate 20km from Bergerac.

The property, which has 30ha of vineyards on clay-limestone soil and a large park, was bought and restored in 1998 by Dutch businessman Philip de Haseth-Möller.

Haseth-Möller restructured the vineyards and restored the 13th century château buildings, bringing in consultant winemaker Stéphane Derenoncourt and viticulturalist Claude Bourguignon in 2003, working alongside estate director Jean de Laitre.

The château produces wine under the Bergerac, Côtes de Bergerac and Saussignac appellations, including about 7,500 cases of red based on Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec, and 5,000 cases of white from Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle.

Scheufele plans to construct a new cellar to house wine from the estate itself, and also Bordeaux Grands Crus from his Galerie des Arts du Vin France, currently based in Bordeaux.

Decanter.com – January 2012