The French export to us their wine, and we export to them our property developers.

Seems like a good deal to me.

Karl O'Hanlon, a Dubliner who runs a property company called Domaine & Demeure, was featured prominently in the Wall Street Journal this week in an article about the restoration and development of old wine chateaux.

O'Hanlon, who has a long track record in the property scene in France, is currently renovating St Pierre de Serjac, a 19th-century winery on 230 acres of Languedoc countryside.

Off-plan sales
He is selling 36 houses off-plan (yes, he's definitely one of ours) at prices of up to €1 million. The winery will be transformed with the addition of a high-class restaurant, tennis courts and a swimming pool.

Before entering property development, O’Hanlon was a banker.

He was formerly Bank of Ireland’s head of IT.