A beau­ti­ful wine land­scape, a luxu­ry hotel with a spa area, 200 hec­tares of nature and 40 works by 34 of the most famous artists and archi­tects in the world. Sounds like a dream, but it’s not. This unique place actual­ly exists and is cal­led “Le châ­teau La Coste”.

The art and architecture

In 2004, the Irish busi­ness­man Patrick McKillen began plan­ning a great pro­ject: he wan­ted to turn the quiet wine­ry area into a cen­ter for modern art. To this end, he invites some of the most popu­lar artists and archi­tects to share their contem­po­ra­ry art in the place of their choice. Louise Bourgeois, Yoko Ono, Andy Goldsworthy and the other crea­tors took advan­tage of this offer and dis­tri­bu­ted a total of about 40 mas­ter­pieces on the huge pro­per­ty. Since its ope­ning in 2011, art lovers from all over the world have tra­ve­led to Aix-en-Provence to see this open air museum.
One of the works is cal­led Crouching spi­der by Louise Bourgeois. The crou­ching spi­der made of bronze finds its place in the nor­theast of the estate. “The spi­der is an ode to my mother. She was my best friend. Spiders help and pro­tect us, just as my mother did for me”, said the 92 year old woman. She died in 2010, two days after her emo­tio­nal work of art was ins­tal­led at its present location.

The gastronomy

Patrick McKillen was not satis­fied with the art and archi­tec­ture exhi­bi­tion alone. In 2018, he ope­ned the luxu­ry hotel 5 stars “Villa La Coste” and its fan­tas­tic spa area, which has alrea­dy been awar­ded seve­ral times in 2018. Between the seven treat­ment rooms and count­less whole-body treat­ments, you can also enjoy your lunch here.
The res­tau­rant Tadao Ando is also loca­ted in cha­teau La Coste, where you can enjoy your Provencal or Mediterranean meal right on the waters edge with a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.
If you want to try Argentinean cui­sine, you can also go to the Francis Mallmann Restaurant. With love, Mediterranean dishes are offe­red in the open flames kit­chen.
For the small appe­tite there is also the café “La Terrasse.” Here you will be gree­ted with snacks from the kit­chen gar­den and live music.

Wine from the Provence

Château La Coste has been known for its wine since Roman times. The best wines of the region are pro­du­ced here, it’s said. Between the unique land­scape of vines, cypresses, pines, oaks and olive trees, 700,000 bot­tles of wine have been pro­du­ced eve­ry year in the cel­lars for 13 years, of which 60% are rosé, 30% red and 10% whi­te­wine. In addi­tion, the wines here are made sus­tai­nable and envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly. Since 2009 it has been labe­led Agriculture bio­lo­gique.