In an extraordinary shift in the real estate market, European developers are redefining the concept of luxury for second-home buyers, offering “turnkey” vineyards that eliminate the challenges of wine production. Two notable developments, Tenuta di Forci in Tuscany and L’and Vineyards in Portugal, embody this emerging trend.

Introduction:

Philippe and Luisa Le Bourgeois, a Paris-based couple, are set to renovate a centuries-old structure at Tenuta di Forci, a vineyard and residential project located just outside the charming Tuscan town of Lucca. Meanwhile, Clifton Lewis Lyles and Serene Lewis Lyles, a couple from Northern California’s tech sector, are venturing into the world of winemaking with their private vineyard in the Alentejo region of Portugal. Their investment includes a two-bedroom, 2,500-square-foot villa under construction in the luxurious L’and Vineyards development, spanning 163 acres, with 15 acres dedicated to vineyards. This unique setting allows owners to become virtual winemakers. The Lewis Lyles duo, investing around $1 million in their new home, benefits from a convenient arrangement where they don’t have to worry about vineyard maintenance. Their focus is solely on naming their private vintage and designing a custom wine label.

Living in a Vineyard in Europe – A Rising Trend:

This trend is not confined to isolated cases. The allure of European villas, providing everything from furnishings to vineyards, has captivated second-home buyers. Developments like L’and and Tenuta di Forci are at the forefront, offering a blend of charm and vinicultural pleasure without the traditional burdens of harvesting and bottling. José de Sousa Cunhal Sendim, founder and CEO of L’and, describes their resort-like development as a wine-themed retreat with a hotel, vacation rentals, and real estate properties nestled among rolling hills and a picturesque lake. The development, offering homes ranging from 2,800 to 3,700 square feet, provides a holistic experience with amenities such as a restaurant, a lakeside cafe, a spa, and proximity to the historic city of Evora.

From Tuscany to Bolgheri – Expanding Vineyard Living:

Tenuta di Forci, part of the renowned Colline Lucchesi wine region in Tuscany, is transforming into a biodynamic winery, farm, and residential property. The Le Bourgeois couple, like the Lewis Lyles, sees their new home as a vacation retreat and a future retirement residence. With a focus on ecologically minded viticulture, the Forci estate offers not only the charm of Tuscany but also the option of private-label wines for owners. Le Ville Serristori, a turnkey vineyard development, is emerging in the celebrated Bolgheri region in southwestern Tuscany, about 20 miles along the coast from Livorno. Associated with the Super Tuscan revolution of the 1970s, Bolgheri has attracted Italy’s leading winemaking dynasties, including the Gajas of Piedmont and the Antinoris of Florence. Le Ville Serristori, just up the road from Antinori holdings, is the brainchild of Florence’s Fratini family, whose 3,000-acre coastal parcel was initially purchased as a private vacation compound in the late 1990s. It now includes a 90-acre residential development, where potential buyers can expect an interview with a Fratini family member before having an offer accepted. The family is marketing a group of six new homes with freehold lots on the estate, with prices ranging from $11 million to $16 million.

The price covers construction and landscaping. The first of the new homes, featuring luxurious marble finishes and a large outdoor pool, will be completed early next year. Each new home will be allotted just over an acre of a private turnkey vineyard. Five of the six have already been sold. Le Ville Serristori is connected to the family’s launch of its own Super Tuscan wine label starting this year, and estate homeowners can take advantage of the Fratinis’ brand-new winemaking facility, converted from an old farmhouse. Marked by a grand avenue of towering pine trees—a relic of the estate’s aristocratic ownership in the 19th century—the rustic development features rolling vineyards, vast farmland, and marine light, along with proximity to the village of Bolgheri, a pilgrimage site for wine enthusiasts worldwide. Homeowners can enjoy the Fratini family’s private beach access—a rarity in Italy. They can also make use of local restaurants operated by Bolgheri’s exclusive wineries. New homeowners are gifted a complimentary green Land Rover to navigate the rural setting, says Jacopo Fratini, CEO of the Fingen Group, the family’s real estate company. They can also look forward to a beach club. The cost of participating in the winemaking side of these developments varies. At L’and, new homeowners are entitled to 100 personalized bottles a year at no extra cost, says Cunhal Sendim. Later, they can pay anywhere from $8 to $24 a bottle. In Italy, says Serimm/Knight Frank’s Alessandro Deghé, the listing agent for both the Forci and Serristori estates, annual service costs for homeowners, including wine-related expenses, can run from $26,000 at Forci up to $108,000 in Bolgheri. La Melonera, a development in the south of Spain, offers larger lots and more obscure grape varieties. Located near Ronda, in the foothills of Andalusia’s Sierra de las Nieves mountain range, a 90-minute drive from Malaga and its international airport, the project takes its name from a nearly forgotten red grape called Rayada Melonera. Its turnkey vineyard also is producing wines from a host of lesser-known local grapes, which the developers came upon in a work by a 19th-century Andalusian botanist. Set over 460 acres, the estate has 29 listings between $3 million and $7.6 million. Three have sold. In January 2022, Soren Skou, 59, the former CEO of Maersk, the Danish shipping company, and his wife, Lene Skou, 59, a financial executive, bought a 10,225-square-foot La Melonera home with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, completed in 2017. It sits on a 13.8-acre lot and comes with its own portion of the estate’s vineyard.

Soren Skou wouldn’t comment on how much they paid, but cited a current listing on the estate, somewhat smaller than his, with an asking price of $4.1 million. He says he plans to tweak the existing interior by spending about $100,000 to create a new home office. Taking a more active role than many other turnkey-vineyard buyers, the couple and their three adult children join in a post-harvest blending session, when they get to fine-tune their personal cuvée. Wine-related service costs start at about $17,300, says Le Melonera founder Jorge Viladomiu. The charge includes 450 bottles of private-label wine. The couple, who live in Copenhagen, have decided to spend several months a year at La Melonera. They were initially drawn to the development by the minimalist architecture and by the chance to “stay at home, barbecue and enjoy life” on the large lot, says Soren Skou. But the turnkey-vineyard option helped seal the deal. “We thought having our own vineyard and our own wine would be fun,” he says. “And La Melonera makes it easy for us.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal