PEOPLE IN FOOD
Want to know why everyone is drinking rosé wine these days? It’s all down to one man’s vision and his mega-brand, Whispering Angel
Sitting on one of Château d’Esclans smart terraces overlooking the estate, indulging in some delicious fresh canapés full of Provençal flavours, is the perfect spot to kick off our shoes and sip a glass of delicious rosé wine.
We are surrounded by 140 hectares of vines, all of which contribute to the delicious rosé wines that the chateau produces, the most well-known and popular of which nowadays is what’s filling my glass – Whispering Angel. In recent times it’s become the sunshine wine of choice at the Med’s best restaurants, beach clubs and the most glamorous of yachts and has done more to revive the region’s rosé wine industry than any other label.
The name, which manages to simultaneously be both romantic and cool, was inspired by a frieze of cherubs on the walls of the chateau’s own early 19th-century chapel, but the wine itself didn’t exist until 2006 when winemaker Sacha Lichine bought the vineyard. The Frenchman, whose family originally had vineyards in Burgundy and Bordeaux, had been educated in America, and via a luxury wine tour business, stints as a sommelier in smart restaurantsts and working in both wine sales and distribution has become one of the most admired winemakers in the world. For he had the hunch that rosé wine was due a moment in the spotlight. And he was right.
Up until 2006, when Lichine bought Château d’Esclans, rosé wine had been something true connoisseurs had been slightly sniffy about – perhaps drinking it only at lunch, in a casual environment and certainly not spending too much on it.
The first year of Whispering Angel production delivered 130,000 bottles to a sceptical market, but by 2017, 6 million bottles were hitting the market, proving Lichine’
