Updated September 2026.
A vineyard let on a French agricultural lease is not the same asset as the same vineyard vacant. The lease survives the sale, it runs for nine years at a minimum, and the tenant holds rights the buyer cannot negotiate away.
The buyer takes the lease with the land
The statut du fermage is public policy: it applies to the occupation of agricultural land for consideration whether or not the parties intended it, and a buyer acquires the property subject to any lease in force. What is bought is not a hectare but a hectare-with-a-tenant, and the difference goes to the heart of the value.
Nine years, and very few exits
The minimum term is nine years, renewable, and the grounds on which a landlord may recover possession are narrow and heavily formalised. In practice the form prevails over the merits: a recovery notice that is substantively justified but procedurally defective fails.
Wine is the exception on price
For most farmland the rent is a sum of money, indexed annually to a national index. Vineyards under permanent plantings are the derogation: article L. 411-11 allows the rent to be expressed in produce — kilograms of grapes in Champagne, wine in Burgundy — and where it is, the national index does not apply. The rent then moves with the price of the commodity, fixed each year by prefectoral order, commune by commune in Champagne and by appellation in Burgundy.
The tenant does not choose a successor, and holds a pre-emption right
Assignment of the lease is tightly constrained, and the tenant has a right of pre-emption when the property is sold. That right ranks alongside the SAFER's, on its own timetable. A sale plan that has not established the tenant's position is not a plan.
What this does to value
Published price series blend vineyards sold vacant with vineyards sold tenanted, which is why the spread inside a single sub-appellation is wide. The rent itself is thin — of the order of 1.5 % to 2 % gross a year in Champagne, less in Côte-d'Or — so the discount on a tenanted vineyard reflects the loss of control far more than the loss of income.
Full data series (French). The full analysis is published in Le statut du fermage viticole; the rent schedules themselves, department by department and commune by commune, in Le fermage viticole. One series, one reference address, never duplicated.
What this page does not do. It restates published figures and explains how they are built. It values nothing, advises on no transaction, and replaces neither a valuation nor the advice of a qualified professional. VITACEAE issues no estimate on the basis of this page.
How to cite this page
Short form — “Observatoire VITACEAE”, September 2026 edition.
Full form — VITACEAE, French farm leases and vineyard value, Observatoire VITACEAE, September 2026 edition. Source : Le statut du fermage viticole and Le fermage viticole. Permanent address : undefined/en/vineyard-market-data/french-farm-leases-and-vineyard-value/ (accessed DD/MM/YYYY).
This address does not change from one edition to the next : a link placed today will always point to the current edition.
Reproduction permitted provided the source is cited as “Observatoire VITACEAE”, with a link to this page. — This document is published for economic information purposes. It constitutes neither legal advice, nor a tax analysis, nor a wealth-management recommendation, nor a valuation. VITACEAE TRANSACTIONS SAS, RCS Reims 823 282 637, CPI 5102 2016 000 014 113 (CCI Marne-Ardennes).