CA Grand Crus expands into Burgundy with Chateau de Santenay acquisition

CA Grands Crus, the subsidiary of Credit Agricole, has added to its strong portfolio of Bordeaux estates with the acquisition of Chateau de Santenay in Burgundy. The purchase gives the French retail banking giant some 90 hectares of various Burgundian parcels from entry level standard to Grand Cru status, a fifth of a hectare having been taken up in Clos de Vougeot.

Official confirmation of the move by CA Grands Crus will not be given until the New Year, but its development manager, Alain Crohem, tipped Harpers off during a Bordeaux visit shortly before Christmas.

"We are excited to be expanding into Burgundy and on a large scale," said Crohem. "We are in it for the long haul, both there and in Bordeaux where it's our long-term ambition to hold onto our four properties."

These chateaux are the fifth growth Grand Puy Ducasse (Pauillac), two Crus Bourgeois, Meyney (St Estephe) and Blaignan (Medoc) as well as Sauternes first growth, Rayne Vigneau.

CA Grands Crus' commitment to producing the best possible wine is such that it is considering investing in the brilliant, if expensive, new viticultural technique, named ‘Green Seeker' that has been pioneered by France's INRA (National Institute of Agronomic Research).

The first vineyard to benefit from Green Seeker was the INRA-owned Graves first growth, Ch Couhins-Lurton. Other top estates to have bought the equipment include Cheval Blanc, Yquem, Lynch Bages and Smith Haut Lafitte.

Green Seeker enables vineyard managers and winemakers to pick grapes at optimum ripeness by assessing canopy vigour. Infra-red photographs taken from a satellite analyse chlorophyll levels in individual canopies. The darker the green in the image, the more vigour there is in canopies and the less ripe the grapes are (greater vigour leading to greater shading). Different picking dates for different rows of grapes, or even individual vines, can be pinpointed. For example, one six-hectare plot of Sauvignon Blanc at Couhins-Lurton was harvested this year not over one or two days but ten - between August 20-30.

Romain Baillou, Couhins-Lurton's sales manager, unfurled details of Green Seeker at a ‘Bordeaux Indulgence' tasting at the Antique Wine Company's Academy in London earlier this month. One eminent MW in attendance confessed it was the first he had heard of the new technique, which seems certain to be adopted by increasing numbers of leading French estates as well as other top wineries around the world.