Rows of fragrant roses encircle the 18th-century castle of Château d’Estoublon, an architectural wonder in the heart of Provence surrounded by fields of lavender and a sprawling vegetable garden. But it’s the 750 acres of grapevines—wine has been produced on the estate as far back as 1489—that first drew Carla Bruni-Sarkozy to the estate.
In 2020, she and her husband, former French president Nicholas Sarkozy, visited the château for the first time, after their previous owners put it up for sale. “We fell in love with the property,” she tells Vogue from her recording studio in Paris, adorned with overlapping layers of personal photographs taken over decades. (Guitars—including one classic Cordoba acoustic—are affixed to one wall.) “It’s this lush countryside of vines and roses and platan trees that take so many years to grow. In the summer, it’s a little paradise. The castle itself is a magic place, full of incredible energy. It’s like my version of the Garden of Eden.”
Photo: Master Media Lab
To revive the estate’s Edenic paradise, Bruni-Sarkozy and her husband partnered with Jean-Guillaume Prats (previously the CEO of Domaines Barons de Rothschild) and French entrepreneur Stéphane Courbit, to continue this storied legacy—and it’s remained a collaborative process ever since. “Before, the estate was owned by a family and they weren’t able to evolve it as much as we are attempting to do right now,” Bruni-Sarkozy explains. “We are very close to our partners. They’re our friends. We all thought that maybe we could bring this into the world so that others can experience it the way we do.”
Now, Château d’Estoublon is gearing up to offer its flagship Provençal rosé, the Roseblood d’Estoublon Vintage 2023, to the U.S. market for the very first time—and unsurprisingly, it’s the rose-speckled estate that inspired the wine’s name. “There is meaning behind everything,” Bruni-Sarkozy says. “Roseblood is in reference to the roses, which is easy to understand when you’re at Château d’Estoublon. You feel their presence right away. The rose is everywhere. It’s more than a flower; it’s a symbol. There are roses everywhere across the vineyards. To me, it’s a guardian of the vines. They are inseparable from the property.” (Featuring a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, and Rolle grapes, the vintage harmonizes well with Mediterranean food, or, as Bruni-Sarkozy suggests, “anything fresh from a vegetable garden.”)