Excerpt: The Book of Rosé

A new book showcases the history of Provence’s Château d’Esclans and the role that Sacha Lichine, its innovative owner since 2006, has played in shaking up the wine industry by creating the world’s best rosés.
For all its Provençal charm and hints of Tuscany, the château itself was in a dire state when Sacha took over. It required a dramatic decorative facelift to make it suitable not only as a family home but also as a veritable destination for friends, VIPs and oenophiles to discover the plenitude of his pale-pink elixirs.
The Sacha Lichine iteration of the Château d’Esclans estate sits nestled in the Esclans Valley in France’s Var department on a lush swathe of land that has evolved with their production needs to include 267 hectares of planted vines of primarily Grenache and Rolle (Vermentino). Ruins of an old watchtower, once a lookout point to spot intruders weaving their way into the gulf of Fréjus, sit atop the massif that overlooks the château; another medieval vestige, the 12th-century cellar is a reminder of the land’s 2,500-year-old history that Sacha and his company preserve. Today, guests arriving at the estate are greeted by international flags waving gently above the entrance, a clear sign of a global outlook. Soaring plane trees, whispering as they sway, and rows of blue hydrangeas usher visitors in further, while the cicadas’ signature serenade lends an unmistakable sense of place. The scene resembles nothing short of a painting fit for museum walls and yet every picturesque inch of Château d’Esclans is not just visually enchanting, it is essential to the house’s viticultural innovation.
From this remote perch, just far enough away from the energy of Nice, the festive vibes of Saint-Tropez and the jet-setters of Monaco, Sacha Lichine built and developed a brand that would grow to become a fixture in the most illustrious homes, bars, hotels, and restaurants in all three locales, in addition to a cornerstone of the most alluring destinations around the world. In the process, he has also reunited the trifecta of estates that composed the historic majority of Terres d’Esclans, having acquired the Domaines des Grands Esclans in 2020 and the Domaine du Jas d’Esclans in 2023. Overall, these acquisitions brought the total and current land holdings to nearly 610 hectares. It can now be said that Sacha Lichine and his brand extend over nearly the entirety of the prestigious wine-growing Esclans valley. Still, Lichine holds particular affection for Château d’Esclans, the birthplace of his rosé vision. “It’s a magical place. I would have never been able to pursue this if there weren’t a property, an anchor, to give it legitimacy,” Sacha says. “There’s ancient vines, real terroir, real soil, real history. But we can’t bottle exactly what happens here.” That may be true but he and his team certainly come very close.

@ MARTIN BRUNO
Bringing rosé to life
Wine fridges may have long been spoken for by sparkling and white wines, but judging by the soaring success of rosé Champagne, Sacha knew there was room-both physically and economically for a still rosé. He wouldn’t consider himself clairvoyant, merely entrenched enough in the business to push boundaries. “In England 15 years ago or so, I noticed that women were drinking a lot of rosé champagne. They loved it because of the beautiful blush-pink colour, the invigorating effervescence, and even the glass it was served in. They could sip it and be reminded of their holidays on the Côte d’Azur.” Among his deepest beliefs was that as long as the product was flawless, he could turn rosé into the champagne of still wines which would earn the respect of discerning wine drinkers. Such ambition required an all-star team, a precise technical vision, and the means to make it happen. Key to the venture was Patrick Léon, the esteemed oenologist from Bordeaux who, like Sacha Lichine, was a relative Provence outsider. Léon had begun his career in 1972 alongside Alexis Lichine in Bordeaux and was freshly retired from his role as technical director at Baron Philippe de Rothschild when Sacha tapped him to lend his acclaimed technical expertise to the project.
The best of the best
“Patrick Léon was the best of the best. I trusted him implicitly, even if he initially disagreed with the taste profile I wanted for these wines. He would’ve made something darker and juicier,” explains Lichine. As Patrick’s son, Bertrand Léon, technical director of Château d’Esclans since 2011, tells it today: “The idea was, and still is, to make wines with weight and freshness. If you take Whispering Angel, for example, it’s a classic expression of rosé de Provence, where we evoke density but highlight aromatic freshness.” In other words, Sacha and Patrick ultimately found common ground, agreeing to focus on producing a line of wines that they would not only love to drink themselves but would also stick it to the naysayers in the French wine establishment for whom rosé was dismissed as a faux wine, the Coca-Cola of wine, as some went so far as to say. Time would prove them wrong. Shifting rosé’s reputation from a cheap and cheerful pool wine to one on par with sophisticated red and white fine wines was going to require heavy technical lifting. “Rosé is the hardest wine to produce well,” Sacha and Bertrand often say.
Particularly when the goal is making Burgundian-style rosé and especially when the land has nearly 30 different types of soil and several grapes varieties. For Bertrand, “making high-quality rosé requires specialised equipment and innovative technical capabilities.” Fortunately, they were prepared to do what no other rosé producer in Provence had pursued before. The estate, part of which is dominated by nearly 100-year-old Grenache vines that yield a high concentration of flavour, is divided into two subregions. Due south of the château, Fréjus is flat with high sun exposure and soil rich in clay that is most suitable for younger vines. The more elevated parcels in the foothills of Draguignan, the second subregion, feature older Grenache vines used to make the house’s top-end cuvées. There, the roots of the oldest vines stretch deep into the chalk and rocky limestone soil, exposing the vines to different stratas of minerality. Beyond understanding this unique terroir and adapting accordingly, technical prowess comes down to how the grapes are harvested, vinified and reared. The methods Patrick Léon first put into place in 2006 reflect first-growth standards and begin with harvesting the grapes by hand. Each year in the last weeks of summer, an intergenerational group of pickers residing in nearby villages descends on the vines at sunrise while the grapes are still cool from the previous night. They work tirelessly, cheering each other on as they fill their 10kg crates to the brim, but only until noon. At this point, the heat becomes far too great-both for them and the grapes to continue.
Keeping it cool
The grapes continue on after picking and sorting to be cooled and pressed. It is here that Sacha Lichine and Patrick Léon have set up one of the most noteworthy innovations of their operation: a wide-reaching system of temperature control. The grapes are sent through a soft-crush mechanism that allows the juice inside to flow. Next, the grapes enter a heat exchange system in double-layered stainless steel pipes that reduce the temperature from as high as 25°C (77°F) to as low as 7°C to 8°C (45°F to 46°F), which ensures that freshness and vigour are locked in place. This reduced temperature is especially important to prepare the grapes for a closed-loop press that makes use of giant bags of inert gas filled with nitrogen to prevent oxidation during the pressing process while also preserving the aromatic qualities of the grapes. Depending on the grade of juice produced in the pressing process, Bertrand Léon and Jean-Claude Neu determine the most suitable fermentation method: stainless steel tanks, oak barrels, or a combination of both. For Whispering Angel, the house’s flagship wine (perhaps better known as the most sold French rosé in the world), 100 per cent of the grapes are vinified in temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks. However, for its most innovative cru wines, Les Clans and Garrus, the grapes are entirely fermented and reared up to 11 months in 600-litre, individually temperature-controlled, semi-toasted oak barrels (called demi-muids) from Bordeaux and Burgundy. During this time, they undergo bâtonnage, the process of stirring the lees (settled sediment) back into the wine, twice weekly, which Sacha insists allows them to create rosés that can be kept up to a decade.
This Burgundian vision of vinification, initiated by Patrick Léon and evolved further by Bertrand, was considered radical when the house put their first four cuvées on the market in 2006. “Generally, rosé in Provence is vinified through stainless steel or cement vats, which is what we do for Whispering Angel and Rock Angel. But to barrel-rear the others, partially or fully, is both a tremendous investment and a way to achieve a completely different flavour profile than whatever existed for rosé,” explains Bertrand Léon, adding that they switch out the oak barrels after three years, when the oaky flavour imparted on the wine has become less strong. If the use of oak began as somewhat of an experiment for the first vintage, it has become conviction, a choice that lends greater depth, complexity, and a rounder mouthfeel to the wine.
More than 15 years after its pioneering debut as the finest and most expensive rosé in the world (more than $100 per bottle), it’s no wonder that Garrus has often been compared to an elegant white Burgundy. The highly prized wine was once sipped by the late Queen Elizabeth II and a host of other dignitaries at a charity dinner; today, it regularly finds itself on the tables of the “happy few”, everywhere from Singapore to Buenos Aires. The premium focus may have been a risk that generated more than a few sceptics at its start, but the industry’s most discerning palates have unanimously rallied around the collection of rosés year after year, convinced of their merit. Ultimately, it’s the signature Lichine alchemy of quality, vision, and technical excellence that paved the way for an entirely new category of fine pink wines with the Château d’Esclans portfolio leading the charge.
From France Today Magazine
Extracted from The Book of Rosé: The Provençal Vineyard That Revolutionized Rosé By Whispering Angel and Château D’Esclans. Text by Lindsey Tramuta, Photographs by Martin Bruno. Published by Rizzoli, 2024, price $75.
Lead photo credit : @ MARTIN BRUNO
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