Scottish football chairman David Murray has just bought a Burgundy estate for more than £3m.
According to the Scotland on Sunday newspaper, Murray, chair of Glasgow’s Rangers Football Club, has snapped up Domaine Jessiaume in the village of Santenay in Cote de Beaune.
Murray, a friend of Hugh Johnson’s and a noted wine collector, already owns Chateau Routas, a 230ha estate in Provence, which he bought in 2005. The estate’s Viognier and Rose both took Silver at the Decanter World Wine Awards this year.
And last month he bought Edinburgh Wine Importers, one of Scotland’s largest independent merchants, for £1.1m.
Domaine Jessiaume consists of 14ha of vines what Clive Coates describes as ‘the last important village of the Cote d’Or’. Jessiaume Pere et fils produces premier crus from Santenay, Volnay, Beaune, and Auxey Duresses, and a village Santenay.
Murray told Scotland on Sunday he was looking for further acquisitions in order to build a wine business around the noble regions of France.
‘We will keep looking at the Rhone and perhaps in the future Bordeaux. I would like to have a portfolio of three to four premium-end vineyards, which would give me between 20 and 30 brands.’
The estate will be incorporated into Murray International Holdings. There will be few or no changes, Murray said. Brothers Marc and Pascal Jessiaume will continue to manage the estate and vineyards under the family name.
‘The brothers can concentrate fully on improving the quality of the wine while we can take care of the commercial side,’ Murray said.
David Murray is Scotland’s fifth-richest man, worth £650m. He made his fortune in the metals business, setting up Murray International Metals when he was 23.
Written by Adam Lechmere
