Can Rupert Murdoch Make a Profit on His Tiny Bel Air Winery?

Of the many amazing things you see at Los Angeles’s J. Paul Getty Museum, one of the most stunning is the view from the roof: Across the highway in Bel Air—a neighborhood that claims the highest-priced house in the U.S.—you can see that someone is growing grapes.

That someone is Rupert Murdoch, who bought the 16-acre Moraga Estate winery in 2013 for $28.8 million from Northrop Grumman Corp.’s longtime chief executive officer, Thomas Jones. Jones planted grapes there in 1978, on land once owned by Gone With the Wind director Victor Fleming, and started selling bottles in 1989. Murdoch now offers a Moraga Bordeaux-style red for $175 and a sauvignon blanc for $110, and the wines are poured at California hot spots such as Nobu Malibu and Wolfgang’s Steakhouse. When Murdoch is in L.A., he and his wife, Jerry Hall, reside in a 7,500-square-foot house at the vineyard, surrounded by olive trees and chickens.