THE future of the renowned Château Latour vineyard was in question last night after it emerged that the investment bank Lazard is discreetly offering the label for sale to French competitors.

Owned by the French business tycoon and president of the luxury-goods group PPR, François Pinault, Château Latour is regarded as one of the finest wines from the Medoc region.

Pinault, whose stable of businesses includes Christie’s auction house and the fashion brands Gucci and Puma, acquired the winery in 1993 for £86m when it became part of his holding company Artemis.

Artemis declined to comment but sources close to the company said it had no intention of selling Château Latour.

Sources in the wine industry, however, said the vineyard, once majority-owned by Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, is on the market for ¤150m-¤200m (£145m-£193m).

The vineyard is understood to be coveted by Bernard Magrez, the man behind the Pape Clément label.

Magrez may look for funding from his friends, the actor and fellow wine aficionado Gérard Depardieu and the former Bond girl and Chanel model Carole Bouquet.

The Château Latour estate consists of 78 hectares of Bordeaux vineyards but only grapes from the 47 hectares that surround the chateau at the heart of the estate are used to make the Grand Vin de Château Latour.

A case of the 1961 vintage fetched HK$1.3m (£117,000) at auction by Christie’s in Hong Kong last month.

News of the possible sale of Château Latour comes amid speculation that Pinault may be considering the sale of Christie in an effort to pay off some of the debt at Artemis.

As well as the winery, Arte- mis owns 40% of PPR, whose shares have lost two-thirds of their value this year; 5% of the construction company Vinci, where the shares are down 44%; and 2% of Bouygues, the building giant, that is off by 50%.

A number of private-equity groups are thought to be interested in Christie’s.

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