A Coastal Vision: Inside Château Léoube’s Living Landscape

Between the Vines explores Château Léoube, a coastal estate in Provence where viticulture, craft, and ecology meet. What began as a restoration project has become a living model of stewardship - a place that shows how beauty and sustainability can grow together, season by season.

The road to Léoube winds through forest and light. Pines stretch overhead, and the scent of salt hangs in the air as the coastline reveals itself in fragments - sea, stone, shadow, then sun again. At the end of this track, tucked into the Cap Bénat peninsula, lies Château Léoube: an estate where land and sea meet through a long practice of regeneration and care.

When Carole and Anthony Bamford first arrived here in the late 1990s, they weren’t searching for an empire or a trophy château. They had already transformed their family farm in England into Daylesford Organic, long before sustainability became a trend. In Provence, they found something far more elemental - a weathered house surrounded by vines, orchards, and olive trees, asleep under the Mediterranean sun.

“It felt like a sleeping beauty,” Carole recalls. “The house, the gardens, the vines — it was all there, waiting to be cared for.”

That instinct - to restore rather than reinvent - has shaped everything that followed. Over nearly three decades, Léoube has grown into a 560-hectare coastal estate, more than half of which remains intentionally uncultivated. The vineyards occupy terraces of schist and clay that fall toward the sea, their rows framed by olive groves and wildflower meadows. The rest is forest and scrub, alive with bees, butterflies, and the gentle movement of grazing sheep that help to keep the soil fertile.

Léoube is not designed for efficiency. It moves at the pace of nature, guided by observation, patience, and the belief that true abundance begins with restraint.

From Farm to Estate

Lord and Lady Bamford brought to Léoube the same principles that underpin Daylesford Organic: the conviction that good farming is an act of stewardship. Their first step was to convert the vineyard to organic production - a process that took years of care and collaboration. They called on Jean-Jacques Ott, a neighbour and respected Provençal winemaker, whose son Romain Ott would later take over the cellar.

Today, Romain has worked at Léoube for more than twenty-five years. He speaks about the estate not in terms of technology or yield but in the language of craft.

“Sustainability here isn’t a strategy,” he says. “It’s instinct. We work with what the land gives — nothing more.”

A fourth-generation vigneron, Romain combines scientific precision with deep intuition. Each plot is tended by hand. The vines are pruned individually according to their age and strength; grapes are harvested in the cool of morning, sorted on site, and pressed using a gravity-driven pneumatic system that preserves their texture and fragrance. Fermentation occurs naturally whenever possible.

The goal is not to chase consistency but to let each year express itself through small, deliberate acts of attention.

The Soil and the Sea

To understand Léoube, you have to begin beneath the surface. The soil here was once the bed of an ancient ocean, formed over 800 million years ago and saturated with marine minerals. It gives the wines their delicate salinity and distinct sense of place — a trace of sea air that lingers on the palate.

The estate is dry-farmed; no irrigation disturbs the natural balance. After harvest, cover crops of oats and barley grow among the vines, anchoring the soil and storing precious winter rain. Wild chamomile and herbs bloom in spring, providing food for bees and pollinators. Nineteen beehives dot the landscape, a reminder that every part of this ecosystem supports another.

Elsewhere, a permaculture garden supplies Café Léoube with fruit, vegetables, and herbs. Figs and apricots share space with aubergine and fennel; compost from the restaurant nourishes the beds. The cycle is constant - the garden feeds the kitchen, the kitchen returns to the soil.

This same principle extends to the olive groves, where more than twenty-five varieties, some rare and endangered, are harvested for two estate extra-virgin oils, each pressed and blended to offer a balanced, rich flavour.

“Everything we grow is connected,” says Sandy Roux, who oversees the garden and forestry projects. “Our role is to make the most of what nature gives us — not to take more, but to understand how things work together.”

Craft and Continuity

Step inside the Léoube cellar and you feel an atmosphere of purpose. Stainless-steel tanks stand beside oak foudres, a dialogue between precision and patience. The winemaking team follows traditional methods yet embraces innovation when it serves the wine.

This balance - craftsmanship meeting modern technique - defines the house style: wines that seem effortless but are shaped by meticulous care.

Frédéric Perotto, the long-time cellar manager, describes Léoube as “a place of tremendous energy.” He speaks of time as both a tool and a luxury:

“You have to allow things to develop. We don’t rush. Wine has to breathe, just like the land.”

The results speak for themselves. Rosé de Léoube, the estate’s signature, shows freshness and restraint; Secret de Léoube adds depth and spice; and the Collector cuvées reveal the potential of La Londe’s best terroirs. Beyond rosé, the whites offer citrus and saline precision, while the reds carry the warmth and structure often overlooked in Provence. Together, they form a portrait of a place still discovering its full voice.

The Art of Living

If the vineyard expresses the landscape, Café Léoube captures its spirit. Nestled beside Pellegrin Beach, shaded by pines and linen canopies, the café opens each summer with a menu built around what the estate grows.

Vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers from the garden share the table with locally landed fish, olive oil from the groves, and wines poured just steps from where they were made.

“Excellence alongside simplicity,” says Guillaume Duverger, who leads the hospitality team. “That’s what we want guests to feel — not formality, but connection. Every ingredient has a story, and every glass carries this place with it.”

Afternoons stretch easily into evening here. The sea glows pink at dusk, the air scented with thyme and citrus. It’s an experience not of luxury in the usual sense, but of belonging - the feeling of being part of a landscape that has been tended with care.

An Enduring Promise

Next spring, Château Léoube is due to become B Corp-certified, recognising more than two decades of environmental commitment. Yet for those who know the estate, the certification is simply a reflection of what has always been true: a respect for land, for craft, and for continuity.

Nothing at Léoube is wasted. Grape skins become eau de vie, olive pumice is turned into soap, and glass bottles are recycled or reused. The team hosts beach clean-ups along the bay, using their own shoreline as a reminder of what’s at stake.

“Sustainable viticulture is simply the normal way for us to work,” says Ott. “Looking to nature and the seasons to guide us, so that we produce the best the land can give — with gratitude and respect.”

Standing on the terrace above the vines, the view seems almost still: the sea beyond the trees, a horizon of light. But look closely and everything moves - insects tracing patterns in the air, leaves shifting with the breeze, distant voices from the harvest.

It’s here, between mountain and tide, that Léoube continues its evolution: a vineyard, a home, and a living promise that time, when treated with care, will always give back.