Declining popularity, over production, dropping prices and tightening bureaucracy has made many vineyard owners throw in the towel and sell up.

While other property in France has increased in price over the last 10 years, the trend for vineyards is generally downwards.

Which is good news for anyone in Ireland who has always wanted to try their hand at a spot of viticulture. Across France properties with vineyards attached are coming up for sale, and although we're talking from upwards of 740,000 for anything decent, it's perfectly possible to find up to 10 hectares with a habitable property and wine-making equipment thrown in for less than 444,000.

It's a far cry from the heady days of 2004 when, according to Richard Edds of French agency Leisure & Land "prices for vineyards were silly". "The banks were lending, people were buying and market fever followed, " he says. "But the market crashed about a year ago." Edds claims many French vineyard owners are now going bankrupt and are desperate to sell. This has left good property available at reasonable prices for anyone brave enough to take on a vineyard. Price depends on the location, the quality of the terroir and wine produced, whether there are established buyers for the wine and the type of real estate on the land.

How much the property is worth can have a big effect on the cost of the whole package.

In Provence, for example, property prices are higher than elsewhere, so that's what you'll be paying for rather than the vineyard itself, whereas in Burgundy and Bordeaux it will be the vines that will have a stronger bearing because they are generally accepted to be of the highest quality.

Leisure & Land's listings span a variety of areas and prices. Cheaper property includes 11 hectares of productive vines in the Rousillon region for around 166,000, while a renovated farmhouse with 15 hectares planted to vines in Lot-et-Garonne is priced at just under 444,000.

For those with ambitions of grandeur, there are vineyards with beautiful manor houses surrounded by 10 hectares costing around 740,000.

Owning a property that can produce wine doesn't necessarily make you au fait with viticulture, though. Edds points out that most vineyards run at a loss. With this in mind, Edds advises people that they need a minimum of 1m to buy anything that can offer a decent property with quality vines.