If you drive along the coast road from Nice, turn inland at St Tropez and keep going for half an hour, you’ll see big white letters tacked onto the hill. It’s like the Hollywood sign but reads DOMAINE SACHA LICHINE. If you go into the discreet little shop opposite, through the grand gateposts with cockerels on top, you’ll find a life-size pink camel painted with the advice, “Save water: drink rosé.” And if you walk a little further down the gravel track, where you’re not allowed to go, you’ll find a Provençal dream house glowing pinky apricot in the sunshine, looking down a valley of vineyards and pine trees toward the Med. This is Château d’Esclans, or more accurately Château Whispering Angel, and if you’ve ever hankered after a cold glass of rosé on a hot day, this place is why.
Inside, le patron, Monsieur Lichine, is reclining on a vast sofa in a vast room. He has a glass of rosé in one hand, a cigarette in the other and a chef in the kitchen preparing French classics for dinner, heady with butter and cream. Lichine gambled 20 years ago that rosé was overdue for an upgrade and set about doing it. Now 62, he’s an astute businessman and passionate salesman with the languid air of a bon viveur.Our conversation is punctuated by the gentle glug of glasses being topped up by silent, uniformed staff and by the ringtone of his phone — which is Shaggy, singing, “Girl, you’re my angel, you’re my darling angel.”
