The extremely wealthy Silicon Valley American entrepreneur, Michael Baum, has château Pommard is composed of 50 acres of vines, a gastronomic restaurant, a museum dedicated to the wine and the vine and an art gallery dedicated to Dali or Miro.
But it’s also an 80 000 bottle production of Château Pommard, of which, 20 000 bottles are of the Clos du Château, to top it all up, 35 000 visitors per year! It is one of the top oenotouristic spots of the Côte d’Or area. With a 6 million Euro annual turnover, the Château Pommard aged over 300 years, is also a symbol of the Burgundy area, and part of France’s heritage.
It belonged to the Laplanche family since 1936; the founder of MGM Constructors, Maurice Giraud, bought the château in 2003. He was the person that created this great art gallery on the Grand crus circuit.
It was during a visit by a fifty year old American, Michael Baum, founder amidst others of founder.org that had a real crush for “this magical place” as he underlined himself.
Domains and Châteaux that are part of France’s heritage are being increasingly sold to Americans, Chinese, Swiss, Russian or Brazilian tycoons amongst others. All these millionaires (if not billionaires) are looking for new toys!
You might argue that the nationality of the owner is not important, it’s the team that is going to allow the tradition to stay and keep the know-how, continuing to make fine wine amateurs, to keep on dreaming. And if, thanks to this financial flow, our domains and châteaux continue to live and develop over time, at the same time providing jobs to men and women that produce this much sought after nectar, we will be able to thank all this foreign wealth.
But please don’t forget dear tycoon friends, that this heritage is ours, and can’t and should not under any circumstances be modified, destroyed or used for any other purpose than that it was designed for; making the best wine in the world.
