Philippe Cuvelier (formerly of Papeteries Guilbert) who bought Clos Fourtet in St-Emilion from the Lurton family in 2001 has just acquired Ch Poujeaux of Moulis in the Médoc on the other side of the Gironde.
Poujeaux has been owned and run by Thiel family since the 1950s when they re-assembled its three constitutent parts under one ownership and increased its size to about 100 hectares, or 247 acres of mainly gravels planted with 50% Cabernet Sauvignon, 40% Merlot, 5% Cabernet Franc and 5% Petit Verdot.
With help from the likes of oenologist Stéphane Derenoncourt and Nicolas Thienpont Clos Fourtet has been performing well in recent primeurs tastings. The same team, working with the Thiels' nephew Christophe Labenne and Philippe Cuvelier’s son Mathieu, are likely to de deployed at Poujeaux whose selling price has been well below that of Clos Fourtet. So far.
Poujeaux's wine have been very solid and consistent though no more exciting than one might expect of this appellation.
This news follows that of a Chinese trading company's purchase of a chateau in the Entre-Deux-Mers. See here for more details. As credit is squeezed, more transactions over the next few months would not be surprising.