The Côtes de Provence Wine Route

An estate with a claim that almost no other winery can make: it contains a medieval chapel housing the relics of Saint Roseline, a 14th-century mystic whose incorrupt body has been venerated here for seven centuries. Marc Chagall designed a mosaic for the chapel in 1975 — a work of genuine weight that sits alongside older pieces in a space that earns quiet. The combination of 12th-century Romanesque architecture, Baroque altarpiece, and 20th-century French modernism should not work as well as it does.

The wines are excellent — the rosé in particular is among the better expressions in the appellation. Understated and precise rather than the easy, fruity style that dominates the commercial end of the market. The tasting room is well-run and unhurried.

Château d'Esclans is the estate where Sacha Lichine — who bought it in 2006 — first aged rosé wine in new French oak barrels. This had never been done before. It produced Garrus, a single-vineyard rosé from 80-year-old Grenache vines that costs significantly more than you expect rosé to cost and justifies every euro. It also produces Whispering Angel, now the best-selling premium rosé in the world.

The tasting room is well-organised and the staff are genuinely knowledgeable about the winemaking philosophy. During harvest (typically September), the estate owner Guy Sangster visits and personal tours occasionally become available — worth asking if you are visiting in this period.

Whispering Angel is the entry-level wine, available everywhere. Rock Angel is better. Garrus is the single-vineyard, oak-aged wine that started everything. If you are going to the estate, drink the Garrus. That is the point.