What to Expect When You're in WINE COUNTRY NOW

Vineyards today are design meccas commissioned by billionaire connoisseurs and conceived by the world’s most discerning oenophiles: architects. A Pritzker to pair with your rosé? Only in Provence!

- SPENCER BAILEY

At a 500-acre vineyard near Aix-en-Provence, a pregnant woman made out of brick and black-pigmented concrete rose from the ground this spring. She is Mater Earth, a large-scale sculpture by the French artist Prune Nourry that is the latest artwork at the estate of the Irish property developer Patrick “Paddy” McKillen, who was best known until recently for his stewardship of Maybourne Hotels, including Claridge’s in London, and the epic battle that followed for control of that hotel.

Among connoisseurs, however, McKillen has earned an admiring reputation for Château La Coste, an art and architecture park that also produces world class vintages. Though he’ll readily admit that La Coste is “first and foremost a farm,” it’s dotted with site-specific structures by five Pritzker Prize winners: Tadao Ando, Frank Gehry, Oscar Niemeyer, Jean Nouvel, and Renzo Piano. Bragging rights as the property’s sleekest edifice may go to a curved, organically shaped construction by the late Niemeyer, built posthumously, that features an 80-seat auditorium and a glass-walled gallery.

“We want La Coste to be a happy place,” says McKillen, whose plans include an affordable farm-style hotel (currently the property has 28 villas) and a new cellar for red wine production—with a tasting room. “We want our guests to leave feeling energized and wishing to come back.”