Provence vineyard estate Château Vignelaure looks set to continue its resurgence after being sold to British entrepreneur Neil Utley and family for an undisclosed fee.
It’s the latest high-profile vineyard property deal in sought-after Provence, where vineyards mingle with lavender fields and olive groves close to the Mediterranean sea.
Vignelaure is one of the region’s pearls, said Adam Dakin, founder of independent property specialist Wine Objectives that helped facilitate the recent deal.
Once home to ancient Roman winegrowers, Vignelaure’s modern era began in the 1960s under Georges Brunet, ex-owner of Bordeaux’s Château La Lagune.
While the estate makes rosé – now a Provençal calling card – it has a particularly strong reputation for high-quality reds, which are sourced from vineyards at relatively high altitudes (around 400m) for the area.
New owner Neil Utley said, ‘Having considered a number of vineyards in and around the region we were drawn to Vignelaure as it wasn’t a blank canvas – our vision was to elevate something extraordinary. This is one of the few estates in Provence with a genuine red wine pedigree.’
Estate director and winemaker Philippe Bru will remain at the property, having been appointed by the previous owners, Swedish couple Mette and Bengt Sundstrøm.
Immediate plans include replanting some of the vineyard, as well as planting new vines on pre-prepared land. Vignelaure spans around 276 hectares in total, including woodland, with around 56ha under vine.
Utley added, ‘Our role now is to become stewards of an estate that already has so much to offer, and to support Philippe Bru and his team in taking Vignelaure to the next level through focus, patience and long-term investment.’
There are also plans to launch a cosmetics business, Maison Minu, to be based at the estate.
Olive trees will be planted and bee hives installed to both support biodiversity and the new cosmetics operations, the owners said, adding they plan to build an on-site spa in the coming years, too.
Provence and Loire vineyards in-demand
Provence’s vineyard market has ‘taken off again’ recently, said Wine Objectives’ Dakin. ‘There’s quite a lot of movement. We’ve got another transaction down towards St-Tropez underway just now.’
Its appeal comes at a price, though. ‘It’s an area where land and buildings are relatively expensive’, said Dakin.
As a comparison, he said that wine lovers dreaming of buying a vineyard on a tighter budget might find a winery with 10 to 15 hectares of vines for around €500,000 in Corbières in the Languedoc to the west, but it’s a different picture in Provence.
‘That said, we’ve got a small vineyard in the process of selling just now at €900,000. It’s a modern villa with I think eight hectares of vines around it and another building on the side which could be developed into a winery.
‘It’s odd, admittedly, to find stuff under the €1m mark in Provence, and reasonably rare to find vineyards under the €2m mark, but they do exist.’
Still, he said the heart of the market is in the €5m to €10m bracket.
Loire Valley is another fashionable area to watch, said Dakin. Wine Objectives recently expanded north in addition to its longstanding focus on Provence, the Rhône and Languedoc in southern France.
‘There are a lot of people visiting, a lot of professional clients looking to buy there,’ said Dakin of the Loire.
Climate change and consumer interest in white wines are among motivating factors for prospective buyers, he said.
In terms of vineyard land prices, Sancerre can reach €250,000 to €350,000 per hectare (p/ha), said Dakin. But he said prices elsewhere, such as Savennières, are much lower and the Loire overall remains relatively inexpensive.
Interest in both regions comes amid a tough market situation facing some of France’s major red wine regions, such as generic Bordeaux and the Southern Rhône outside top appellations.
A recent report by French rural land agency Safer showed Burgundy vineyard prices continued to defy gravity in 2025, yet also found declining values in Bordeaux.
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