The estate, a story in Luberon
Our 18th-century country house is ideally located at the foot of the Luberon mountain, surrounded by vineyards, olive trees, pines, oaks and hundred-year-old plane trees...
The estate
The estate was owned for several generations by a family from Forcalquier, near Manosque.
During the 19th century, the owner, Victor-Etienne Pascal, added the two towers that give the bastide its majestic look today.
His great-grand children sold the estate in 1964 to the Lembo family, who planted the first vines then. Their son in law, Bernard Delarozière, developed the vineyard until the acquisition by Virginie and Jean-Marc in 2017.
The vineyard
The first vines were planted in 1967, with grape varieties typical for the region: Grenache, Carignan, Syrah and Cinsault.
In 1986, a winemaking facility was built, and it became one of the first independent wineries in the Luberon appellation!
We started a full restructuring of the vineyard when we arrived. We replanted new vines to introduce new grape varieties such as the local white “Rolle” (also called on “Vermentino”) and the aromatic “Clairette “, as well as Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault for reds.
We started our journey to organic viticulture and winemaking on the whole estate in 2018. Château La Sable is fully organic certified since the 2022 vintage.
Our winery facilities
We wanted a winery that would blend seamlessly into the Luberon Regional Natural Park, classified as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1997. Everything was designed to limit our impact!
In 2024, we built the building in a small triangle surrounded by our hundred-year-old oak trees, with a stunning Luberon view (photo). The semi-underground winery takes advantage of the natural slope to harvest our grapes as close as possible to the vines and to be able to vinify using gravity.
To minimise air conditioning usage, we chose to build walls using 37 cm thick insulating single-wall bricks with air pockets that effectively limit temperature variations, both in summer and winter. Oak barrels are located in the semi-basement, on the north-east side, so that wines can be aged in complete tranquility. Solar panels provide electricity for the storage air conditioning system, allowing us to store our bottled wines at a constant temperatureall year round. We collect rainwater from the roof.