The popularity of Provence rosé is largely down to one man. Alexis Lichine was a Russian-born wine writer and entrepreneur who left his son Sacha Château Prieuré-Lichine in Margaux and a share in Château Lascombes, both leading properties in the Médoc. Sacha also inherited his father’s entrepreneurial streak and, to the surprise of many, he sold both a decade later and moved to Provence, where he set about reinventing rosé, then seen as deeply unfashionable.
Lichine bought Château d’Esclans, a 74-hectare property in Provence for €13 million in 2006. He hired winemaker Patrick Léon, formerly of Château Mouton-Rothschild, and together they produced a distinctive, very pale-coloured dry rosé with soft ripe peach fruits matched by a refreshing acidity. The idea was to create a wine that consumers, and women in particular, would enjoy before, during and after a meal and throughout the year. He created a distinctive bottle and called his wine Whispering Angel, a name that English speakers could pronounce. Lichine began travelling the world promoting his creation.
The wine was hugely successful in the upmarket holiday resorts of the east of America and came to be known as Hampton Water. In the age of Instagram, bottle size and shape became all-important. Lichine sold his wine in magnums.
Whispering Angel became the bestselling rosé in the US. Sales of Provence rosé, and others, soared in other countries. There are now very few producers in the south of France who don’t produce a pink wine of some sort. Lichine is credited with starting a new, highly lucrative category that has been growing rapidly for a decade or more now. He also created Garrus, an oak-aged rosé that sells for more than €100.
READ MORE
In 2019 Lichine sold a majority share of Château d’Esclans to luxury goods house LVMH for an undisclosed sum, estimated to be about €140 million. The wine is still as popular as ever.
