Off-Market Vineyard Transactions
Sell, acquire or invest in Champagne and Burgundy, with no listing and no publicity. An independent firm, a single point of contact, complete confidentiality.
An off-market vineyard transaction is the sale, acquisition or equity investment in a wine estate, a Champagne house or vineyard land, conducted without any public listing. The asset is presented only to qualified counterparties, under a confidentiality undertaking. In Champagne and Burgundy, this is how quality assets normally change hands.
Sell a vineyard
Sell your estate, your vines or your shares without the market knowing. A valuation that withstands the buyer's scrutiny, pre-qualified buyers.
Acquire an estate
Access estates and plots that will never be listed. A precise brief, a targeted search, coordinated due diligence.
Invest in vineyards
Hold a rare land asset, directly or through a company, with the estate run for the long term.
Why the best estates are never listed
In Champagne, 0.63% of vineyard area changed hands in 2025 (SAFER). In a market this narrow, a public listing costs more than it brings: it exposes the seller to staff, customers and grape buyers, and marks the asset as hard to sell for as long as it stays online.
Sellers who can therefore choose silence. Buyers who know look elsewhere than listing portals. Between the two, it takes a third party who knows the estates, the families and the constraints on the land, and who can make introductions without exposing anything.
“What I have observed in the vineyards for more than 25 years: the best transactions are decided before anyone knows they are possible.”
— Philippe Petit, founder
What stays the same, whether you sell, buy or invest
No listing.
No portal, no publication, no open distribution. Each file is presented by name to qualified counterparties, after a confidentiality undertaking and identity and source-of-funds checks.
A dual reading, technical and economic.
Vines, buildings, stock, leases, operating structures and SAFER control are analysed as drivers of value and risk. This reading comes from the field: oenology, wine brokerage, operating roles inside Champagne houses.
Your advisers remain your advisers.
VITACEAE provides no legal, tax or wealth-planning advice. The firm coordinates the transaction with its client's notary, lawyer and accountant.
Fees tied to the outcome.
Fees are set in the mandate, proportional to the price and payable on completion. See our fees.
A four-step method
- A confidential first conversation. Your project, your timetable, your constraints. No commitment.
- Analysis. A valuation of the estate for a seller; a brief for a buyer or an investor.
- Mandate and targeted approach. Introductions to a small number of counterparties, chosen one by one.
- Negotiation and signing. Coordination with your advisers, the notary and, where applicable, SAFER, through to completion.
Allow, in general, 6 to 18 months between mandate and completion. Each route is detailed on the Sell, Acquire and Invest pages. For M&A advisory, see Sell-side Advisory.
Frequently asked questions
Why use an intermediary rather than a listing?
Because in a market where less than 1% of vineyard land changes hands each year, the counterparty matters as much as the price. The intermediary identifies credible buyers or sellers, prepares a file that withstands scrutiny and protects confidentiality until signing.What assets does VITACEAE handle?
Wine estates and houses, planted or unplanted vineyard land, and shares in companies that own or farm vines. Champagne and Burgundy are the core of the practice; premium matters in other French regions are considered case by case.Does an off-market transaction escape SAFER?
No. Off-market means no publicity, not no oversight. Sales of agricultural land are notified to SAFER, which may exercise its pre-emption right; above certain thresholds, transfers of company shares require authorisation under the French law of 23 December 2021 (known as the Sempastous law). The timetable accounts for this from the outset.How long does a vineyard transaction take?
Generally 6 to 18 months between mandate and completion. The duration depends on the size of the file, the number of counterparties approached, due diligence and administrative timeframes.How is confidentiality protected?
No information that could identify the asset or the parties is shared without a signed confidentiality undertaking. The file is disclosed in stages, to a small number of vetted counterparties. Nothing is published, at any stage.A transaction in mind?
Every matter starts with a conversation. It stays between us, whether or not the project goes ahead.
To follow the market: Market Data (prices, farm rents, SAFER data) and Insights.
VITACEAE TRANSACTIONS SAS — French professional card CPI 5102 2016 000 014 113, issued by CCI Marne Ardennes.