WHAT IS THE WINE LOVER’S SECRET DREAM? BUY A WINE COMPANY AND BECOME A VIGNERON. WHERE? IT DEPENDS ON THE BUDGET: FROM NEW ZEALAND TO TUSCANY, "WINE SEARCHER" GIVES ADVICE TO SUIT (ALMOST) ALL BUDGETS, FROM 1 TO 39 MILLION DOLLARS

The dream of a true wine lover is to be able to buy his own company and produce a wine that responds exactly to his/her taste. It is no small feat to make this dream come true, given the stratospheric prices of the most famous terroir, but then, dreaming does not cost anything, and who knows maybe a stroke of good luck could bring enough money to be invested in vineyards and a cellar.
Sifting through the many businesses for sale on the portal www.VineSmart.com, as “Wine Searcher” (www.wine-searcher.com) did, it turns out that there are opportunities more or less for all budgets. For just over a million dollars, for example, you can buy a company with 27 hectares of which 11 are vineyards (Chenin Blanc, Riesling and Pinotage) in Western Cape, South Africa. Raising the bar to around 3.8 million dollars, even Bordeaux is possible: 19 hectares of which 15 are vineyards (13 are already in production, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon) at Entre-Deux-Mers, with a completely renovated chateau and wine cellar as well as 600 square meters of apartments and a swimming pool.
For those attracted by the Southern Hemisphere, for 4 million euros the perfect destination would be Marlborough in New Zealand: 24 hectares, 21 of which are vineyards (Sauvignon Blanc, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay) and a brand new well-structured company, including winery, offices, tasting room and a, swimming pool. But the dream for many, also thanks to recent investments by Brazilians, Russians and Chinese, is Tuscany: so, if you happen to win the Lottery, 39 million US dollars (30 million euros) will buy you 40 hectares of Sangiovese vineyards (the ad does not say where the company is) on a 90 hectares property with a large farmhouse, a modern winemaking facility and basement, an olive grove and other outbuildings.
These are the tips for shopping, but to get a complete overview of the fragmented market of wineries, Wine Searcher got the advice of Mark Hazell, of the portal VineSmart.com, which deals with wine estate sales around the world. "The first choice for many buyers, falls on France, Italy, Spain and Portugal, as might well be expected.
Following are in order, Australia, New Zealand and Argentina. At a distance there are Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia, and South Africa. " Keeping prices high in France and Italy, are investors of the countries that are holding up global economy, such as China, Russia and such as Brazil. Countries like South Africa and Argentina, while very popular, have to deal with their own internal problems: the homeland of Nelson Mandela, from the end of apartheid to present day, has not yet found a genuine national reconciliation, and this leads to continuing tensions and security problems for investors. Argentina unlocked the ceiling on foreign investment in agriculture only in March of this year, although President Cristina Kirchner’s particularly protectionist economic line, does not give any certainty about future developments.