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Artémis Domaines, which belongs to the family of billionaire François Pinault and owns Château Latour, among others, is selling Domaine William Fèvre ****, the Chablis house it acquired as late as last September. At that time, the Pinault family merged its wine estates with those of the Henriot family and took over a majority share in the new Artémis company. In addition to the Maison Henriot in Champagne, this transaction also brought the Burgundian producer Bouchard Père et Fils into the Artémis group, as well as and Beaux-Frères in Oregon. The group had already taken a stake in Champagne Jacquesson before. Since 2018, the Burgundian Grand Cru monopoly Clos de Tart has also been part of it.
François Pinault commented on the acquisition at the time: "The merger of Maisons & Domaines Henriot and Artémis Domaines is a wonderful opportunity to unite the treasures of our wine heritage under a common banner."
Following the sale of Champagne Henriot to Terroirs & Vignerons de Champagne (TEVC) in March and the decision to concentrate its Champagne activities around Jacquesson, Artémis Domaines is now negotiating a sale of William Fèvre with the family-owned Domaines Barons de Rothschild (DBR), which includes the Bordeaux châteaux Lafite Rothschild and Duhart-Milon in Pauillac, L'Evangile in Pomerol, Rieussec in Sauternes, as well as vineyards in Chile (Viña Los Vascos), Argentina (Bodegas CARO) and China (Domaine de Long Dai).
William Fèvre is one of the larger producers in Chablis with 78 hectares of vineyards, of which 15.9 ha are classified as Premier Cru and 15.2 ha as Grand Cru. It is assumed that with the purchase, DBR Lafite wants to complement its portfolio, which is strongly focused on red wines, with a white wine estate. The transaction is not yet completed and still has to be approved by the authorities, which is supposed to happen by the end of 2023.
(al / source: Decanter; vitisphere)