Karl Friedrich Scheufele, topman bij de luxe horlogefabrikant Chopard, heeft z’n spaargeld in een Frans wijnchâteau gestopt. Want het klokje hoeft niet alleen thuis te tikken, vindt hij. Dat kan ook in de Bergerac, waar de Nederlander Philip Haseth-Möller het château Monestier La Tour aan hem heeft overgedaan. Voor hoeveel, is nog niet bekend. Philip had de fraaie behuizing in 1998 geheel laten restaureren en ook de 30 hectare wijngaard opnieuw aangelegd en beplant. Scheufele kan daar wel even vooruit, want het hele wijngoed omvat liefst 100 hectare. Lees wat Decanter meldt:

Chopard boss buys Bergerac chateau

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.