Finish of a rural idyll: a picker unloads grapes throughout the wine harvest, Espira-de-L’Agly, southern France, 12 August 2020
Lionel Bonaventure · AFP · Getty
It was a document 12 months for getting and promoting wine estates in Provence. All of the sudden in 2022, native winegrowers have been amazed to see their vineyards and bastides (fortified cities) thronged by the wealthy and well-known, together with former president Nicolas Sarkozy and his spouse Carla Bruni, and Hollywood celebs Brad Pitt, George Clooney and George Lucas, in addition to personal fund managers and semi-retired small enterprise house owners eager to get their palms on tax-exempt belongings, with sunshine and rosé as a bonus. The completely satisfied proprietor of 1 château within the foothills of the Montagne Sainte-Victoire says, ‘Bernard Arnault [owner of champagne, brandy and luxury goods multinational LVMH] is a visionary; if he’s investing right here it’s acquired to be value it.’
LVMH’s arrival within the Esclans valley (45km north of Saint-Tropez) between 2019 and 2022 was the climax of a pink gold rush which had began a decade earlier. On this quick time (which included lockdown) it acquired all or a part of 5 estates, protecting round 400 hectares, together with three prestigious cru classé wines and a few of Provence’s greatest rosé labels.
Formally, everybody’s completely satisfied. With such a seal of approval rosé can lastly stand alongside France’s nice wines, and the monetary rewards have been appreciable: the worth of grapes and winegrowing land in the perfect areas has doubled, as has the earnings of former cooperative members who now provide grapes to LVMH and different new winemakers.
‘They’re completely satisfied – they’ve all purchased these massive luxurious pickups,’ says Fabrice Raymond, who together with his spouse Agathe runs the Terres d’Esclans vineyard and is a member of the Confédération Paysanne (CF) farmers. In August 2022 the CF organised an unauthorised grape harvest on land belonging to the Château d’Esclans, now owned by LVMH, as a protest in opposition to its land seize. Raymond’s land is sandwiched between two of Arnault’s estates. ‘There was 5 or 6 estates within the Esclans valley,’ Raymond explains. ‘Some have been good, some much less good, however that didn’t (…)
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