(Decanter) - Château de la Chaize, one of the largest wine estates in Beaujolais, is changing hands after three-and-a-half centuries of being owned by the same family. 

Château de la Chaize has been sold to Maïa Group, an independent French company specialising in infrastructure and real estate.

A fee was not disclosed, but local newspaper Le Progrès said it was understood to be a record sum for a Beaujolais producer.

Those 99 hectares produce 8% of the total production of Brouilly, one of the 10 crus of Beaujolais.

‘We took a family decision to sell,’ Caroline de Roussy de Sales, estate manager and a member of the previous owning family, was quoted as saying in Le Progrès. She said that it was important to sell to somebody who wanted to develop the vineyards and invest.