Contadi Castaldi: Argea sale reported, Moretti family denies
Il Sole 24 Ore values the Franciacorta winery at about €30 million. The 2025 accounts show profits at both Terra Moretti houses, and close to €96 million of debt between them.
Contadi Castaldi, the Franciacorta winery owned by the Moretti family's Terra Moretti group, is close to being bought by Argea, the wine company controlled by the private equity fund Clessidra, Il Sole 24 Ore reported on 3 October. The family has denied that the winery is being sold, according to the Brescia news site QuiBrescia.
The financial daily puts the valuation at about €30 million and says the offer, in circulation for several months, is expected to be finalised in the coming weeks. It gives the winery's 2025 output as just under 1.2 million bottles, with turnover of nearly €13 million and EBITDA of €4 million. Giornale di Brescia, which also reported talk of a sale to a fund, notes that the Moretti family has not confirmed it.
Neither of the group's two Franciacorta houses lost money last year. According to the 2025 accounts cited by QuiBrescia and Italia a Tavola, Bellavista made a profit of €4.2 million on revenue of €26.5 million, and Contadi Castaldi €2.1 million on €14.8 million, a slightly higher revenue figure than the one in Il Sole 24 Ore.
Two profitable wineries, close to €96 million of debt: the accounts explain why buyers are being named.
What the Contadi Castaldi and Bellavista accounts show
The weight sits on the other side of the balance sheet. The same accounts show debts of €58.5 million at Bellavista and €37.4 million at Contadi Castaldi, close to €96 million between them. The holding company closed 2025 with a profit of €1.9 million after a loss of €20.7 million in 2024, and net equity of €88.6 million.
Giornale di Brescia puts total group debt at about €170 million, roughly seven times EBITDA. QuiBrescia links it to two moves: the purchase of Sella & Mosca and Teruzzi from Campari for about €62 million, and the buy-back in January 2023 of the 30% stake held by a Chinese fund.
A Tuscan resort is also changing hands
The other asset in play is L'Andana, the 61-room resort at Castiglione della Pescaia in the Tuscan Maremma. Il Sole 24 Ore reported on 1 October that it is passing to the De Santis family, owners of the Grand Hotel Tremezzo and Passalacqua on Lake Como, who declined to comment. No price has been announced; Giornale di Brescia cites market estimates above €30 million.
Sparkling-wine estates have been changing owner elsewhere too: Boisset bought Artesa, the Napa winery founded by the cava house Codorníu.
Contadi Castaldi was set up in the late 1980s in a former brick kiln at Adro; the group is based in nearby Erbusco. According to Il Sole 24 Ore, Terra Moretti means to concentrate on Bellavista and its L'Albereta resort. Until a deal is signed or announced, what exists is a newspaper report, a family denial and a set of filed accounts.
