INTERVIEW

How Whispering Angel became the world’s favourite posh rosé

Experts laughed at Sacha Lichine when he launched an expensive rosé — nobody in the wine world, they said, would take it seriously. Now his Whispering Angel, loved by A-listers like Adele and Victoria Beckham, shifts one million cases a year

Sacha Lichine, at Château d’Esclans in Provence, France, which be bought in 2006. “They said I was totally out of my mind, that I was smoking too much pot”
Sacha Lichine, at Château d’Esclans in Provence, France, which be bought in 2006. “They said I was totally out of my mind, that I was smoking too much pot”
ANDREI KOVALEV
Hilary Rose
The Times

If you drive along the coast road from Nice, turn inland at St Tropez and keep going for half an hour, you’ll see big white letters tacked onto the hill. It’s like the Hollywood sign but reads DOMAINE SACHA LICHINE. If you go into the discreet little shop opposite, through the grand gateposts with cockerels on top, you’ll find a lifesize pink camel painted with the advice, “Save water: drink rosé.” And if you walk a little further down the gravel track, where you’re not allowed to go, you’ll find a Provençal dream house glowing pinky apricot in the sunshine, looking down a valley of vineyards and pine trees towards the Med. This is Château d’Esclans, or more accurately Château Whispering Angel, and if you’ve