This Sprawling Estate in Provence Makes Award-Winning Olive Oil—and It’s Available for Buyouts
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Thoughts of Provence evoke images of winding roads bordered by a sea of olive trees, grapevines, and lavender; of iron gates, unpaved lanes, and enormous stone homes filled with handwoven carpets, Louis XV furniture, and an infinite supply of pale-pink rosé. And nothing, perhaps, is more picture-perfectly Provence than Château d’Estoublon.
Built in 1489 by an aristocratic Genoese family, this wine- and olive oil–producing estate has been lovingly chauffeured into the 21st century by a dream team of collaborators: Stéphane Courbit, owner of the Les Airelles hotel collection and Ladurée, the French macaron bakery turned café; former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, the model, singer, and onetime first lady of France, Carla Bruni; and Jean-Guillaume Prats, whose family owned Cos d’Estournel and who has previously held the role of CEO at both Château Lafite Rothschild and LVMH’s fine-wine division. The result is a spectacular 22-room retreat with a restaurant, cinema room, bar, and billiards room (not to mention all that homegrown wine and olive oil) situated just two hours by car—but an entire world away—from the French Riviera.
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The main building’s facade and layout date to the 18th century (the structure has been destroyed and rebuilt twice in its history) though most recently the home was renovated and decorated by architect Christophe Tollemer, who filled the 10-bedroom 16,000-square-foot château with a mix of antique furniture, portraits, and countless fascinating artifacts and objets. (Among the books piled high in the salon is a volume detailing the home’s many imported carpets.) Visitors won’t be surprised to discover that the property, which is available for buy-out in its entirety, is a member of the prestigious Comité Colbert, an association of French luxury brands that includes Hermès, Chanel, and Louis Vuitton.
The estate’s chef, Wim Van Gorp, can tailor menus to your group’s tastes (though be sure to try the mashed potatoes and the chocolate mousse, both made with estate-grown olive oil, more on which later) and pair them with selections from the private cellar’s additional reserve list, should you fancy something outside the house labels. But don’t miss La Table d’Estoublon, the onsite Provençal restaurant, tucked behind a gate like a secret within a secret. Dine in the shaded garden or beneath a vaulted brick ceiling reminiscent of an ancient chapel, enjoying standout dishes inspired by the estate’s vegetable garden, including black-truffle pizza, grilled côte de boeuf drizzled with Estoublon red-wine sauce, and bouillabaisse scented with mint, fenugreek, and lemongrass.
Back to that olive oil: Made from almost 300 acres of trees growing Picholine, Salonenque, Béruguette, Bouteillan, and Grossane varieties, Château d’Estoublon products won a combined 16 gold medals in various international olive-oil competitions in 2023 and come beautifully packaged in ridged glass bottles that evoke the finest perfume flacons. Meanwhile, Prats is serious about producing equally superlative wines from the estate’s 49 acres of organically farmed grapevines. The current flagship is an accessible, lightly hued rosé called Roseblood; its name is a nod to the saignée method of making rosé, which means “to bleed” and describes the process of “bleeding off” the free-run juice of just-pressed red grapes. Made with Grenache, Cinsault, and Tibouren, it’s the junior sibling to 1489, a more complex rosé (named for the domaine’s founding year) that will enter the U.S. market in 2024.
Tastings—both wine and olive oil—are just two of the myriad activities and amenities available at the château, which also include cooking classes, massage, yoga, horseback riding, lawn bowling, a secluded pool, and a walking path that meanders through woods, gardens, and vineyards. Consider it your own personal Provence.
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