Vineyard Investment Newsletter 1
14 July 2004
As part of our ongoing business strategy, we are planning to acquire a
vineyard property in the Languedoc region of Southern France and propose
to open up the project to any of our customers and newsletter recipients
who may be interested in becoming involved!
Why the Languedoc? For the past six years we have been importing wines
from this region and have been seriously impressed with both the value
and quality now emerging. For years the Languedoc was associated with
bulk wine production, a certain level of mediocrity and at best decent
southern blends. All this has changed and more and more growers have
moved away from the cooperatives and have opted to produce and bottle
their own wines with some really interesting results - hand crafted
wines that have all the fruit driven qualities needed and yet retain
that element of southern 'terroir' that has always distinguished good
French winemaking.
What they lack is a 'route to market'! Too much wine and too few buyers
have stifled the desire to improve and develop their wines. I believe
that we can offer not only a financial investment but, most importantly,
we can give that access to market. We can take the production onto the
growing Irish market and distribute throughout our substantial customer
database. It is an interesting prospect which can work and work well!
Over the past few months I have identified and visited several such
properties - including an organic vineyard - all of which are making
superb wines and are capable of much more. Our plan is to acquire one
such property, invest in upgrading the winery, encourage the reduction
of yields and bring the new wines to market, all the time working with
the existing staff, oenologists and management resources. It is an
exciting project which could be quite rewarding.
We are not looking for or asking anyone to commit the family silver or
the pension fund - far from it! We see this as being a 'hobby' interest,
a sense of involvement in something dynamic and new and which would
probably require an outlay in the order of around EUR 2000 per person
(or group of persons) with the 'return' being paid in wine on an annual
basis! How much wine would depend on the success of the vintage. We
would, however, plan to make the vineyard and winery an intricate part
of our website with regular reports on the vineyard cycle and
development. The wine, when vinified and bottled, could be made
available for collection at a French port or delivered to a French
address (for those fortunate enough to have a holiday home) - in both
cases no Irish duty is payable, or shipped into Ireland in which case it
would be subject to normal customs clearance procedures.
The purpose of this email is to evaluate interest only - it may suit
some people but not others. We have a lot of fine tuning to do before we
can make or expect any commitments but we will keep anyone interested
informed and fully briefed if and when the project unfolds. If you are
interested and would like to be kept informed then please send an email to gerry@wineonline.ie
with the word 'Vineyard' in the subject line. Please also include your name
if not apparent in your email address. I will keep you posted.
Gerry Fitzsimons
Sales and Marketing Director
WineOnline.ie
gerry@wineonline.ie
Vineyard Investment Newsletter 2
26 April 2005
They say that things move slowly in France and they're right - very
slowly! It's a lovely way of life but bureaucracy is alive and well.
Hence the delay in sending an update but a lot of work has been done and
we are close to a decision. We have visited and inspected a wide range
of potentially suitable properties all of which fall broadly into the
category and meet the criteria as outlined in our initial proposal. We
met the owners - some great characters - walked the land, tasted the
wines (someone had to do it) and above all trawled the financials,
looking mainly for growth and marketing potential.
It is fair to say that very few small private wineries in the Languedoc
are profitable and those that are, remain only marginally so. The road
to success definitely lies in creating the 'route to market' - so many
of these family owned properties are making exceptional wines yet
selling a large proportion of their crop as grapes to the co-operatives
or, in some cases, bulk wine, simply to generate cash.
Two very diverse and interesting properties have emerged as favourites:
1) Property One
A property of some 18 ha (approx 40 acres) of which 14 ha is under vine,
making wonderful organic wines under the Vin de Pays appellation. It has
a very traditional but fully fitted winery based in the nearby village
with capacity to vinify substantially more than the property output.
Some elements of the winery equipment would require updating and
modernisation but otherwise it is working well. They produce mainly red
wine from the Mourvedre, Syrah and Grenache blend, some rose and a
little white - in the 2004 vintage only red and rose were bottled.
Approx. half the output is sold in bottle, the remainder sold as either
bulk wine or fruit (grapes) to the local co-operative. If ever a
property could benefit from a new international market, this is one!
2) Property Two
A property of some 16 ha (approx 35 acres) of which 12 ha is under vine
- the remainder has plantation rights. A modern state of the art winery
(built two years ago) is located on the property. It requires completion
but is sectioned and is fully operational. In contrast to property
number one, this property makes some of the most expensive wines in the
Languedoc from old Syrah and Carignan vines with very low yields. They
also produce a small quantity of elegant white wine which compares
favourably to a white Chateauneuf! They sell most of their wine to
private clients at very high prices. Reason for sale - domestic family
issues! Has great potential to produce a second, more commercial, label
that would be ideal for the Irish market. Co-owned by a famous Bordeaux
vigneron - hence the quality influence. Wines are matured in one year
old barriques from the Bordeaux estate.
Any involvement with the above properties will depend on keeping the
existing owners on board albeit for a limited time to maintain
continuity and preserve quality. We believe that a partnership with a
company such as WineOnline, with a proven marketing record, would give
both projects a whole new dimension, would allow all participants an
involvement in something quite unique with a good possibility of a
decent return on a modest investment. As stated previously, we see this
as very much a lifestyle investment, a sense of belonging to a project
which will, hopefully, continue to grow and in the process make more
wine to be enjoyed by all.
Over the next 5 weeks we will be making some fairly major decisions
based on the various financial reports we have requested. If we go ahead
a deposit will be paid and a document prepared and circulated to
everyone who has expressed an interest in the project. Everyone who
replied to the last newsletter will automatically receive the
information document. If you are a recent subscriber to our newsletter
and wish to receive further information, then simply reply to this
email, or send an email to gerry@wineonline.ie
with the word 'Vineyard' in the subject
line. Please also include your name if not apparent in your email
address.
Gerry Fitzsimons
Sales and Marketing Director
WineOnline.ie
gerry@wineonline.ie
