French land study points to widening price gap between appellations

(Decanter) - The difference in the price of vineland between French appellations is greater than it has ever been, according to a study.

According to figures from the French government’s land agency SAFER, the average price for a hectare of AOP vines in France in 2012 rose to €131,700, up from €116,000 in 2011. In 2005 it was €83,000.

The study cited a rise of 21.5% in Champagne, 10% in Cognac, against continuing drops in the Languedoc-Roussillon, where prices average €11,800 per hectare.

Not all appellations have seen the same evolution. Condrieu, in the Rhone Valley, cost on average €600,000 per hectare in 2012, a gentle drop from €609,000 in 2011 but a significant rise from €463,100 in 2010.

The prices are a continued concern for young winemakers wanting to enter the market. SAFER has a ‘right to buy’ agricultural land in France, and intervenes in around 38% of land sales to ensure equal opportunities for young winemakers.

To help with transparency of pricing, a new website, le-prix-des-terres.fr was launched by SAFER at the end of May.

According to the website, a hectare in Cotes de Bourg in Bordeaux was an average price of €22,000 in 2012, down from €24,100 in 2008.

The average in Pomerol has also dropped, to €900,000 from a high of €1.047m in 2008, while Pauillac rose to €2m average per hectare, from €733,500 in 2008.

In Marne Cotes de Blanc, average prices in 2012 were €1.56m per hectare, up from €1.2m in 2011 and €1.1m in 2008.

Prices were being forced upward by investors offering above-average sums for land, Thierry Brouin of Domaine des Lambrays in Morey-St-Denis in Burgundy told Decanter.com.