Chateau La Coste: under the Provence sun with incredible art, food and wine

There is a personal touch in how Chateau La Coste gets new art projects. McKillen invites his artist friends to the estate to explore it and choose their favourite site to build a project. For instance, Irish artist Guggi created the chalice-like work Calix Meus Inebrians (my chalice makes me drunk) in 2009, which echoes the winery and its ancestral traditions. Some works invite exploration, such as Tracey Emin’s Self-Portrait: Cat Inside a Barrel (2013), which depicts a small, almost hidden porcelain cat inside a barrel that is kept at the end of a long footbridge surrounded by the greenery of the Luberon valley.

The property provides two tiers of accommodation. Villa Coste, in which McKillen himself played a pivotal role in the design element, is opulent yet understated, while Auberge offers a French village vibe. The art collection across Villa La Coste is curated carefully by McKillen himself, and features works of his own friends, including numerous drawings by French-American artist Louise Bourgeois. 

Chateau La Coste hosts around 10 to 15 shows per year by prominent artists, such as Angelm Kiefer in June 2023 and Roni Horn in July 2021. The Vernissages are often organised on the weekends, personally hosted by McKillen. The weekend I visited, New York-based design gallery Ralph Pucci, celebrating its 70 years of history, was exhibiting at the Oscar Niemeyer Pavilion with live sculpting demonstrations, and innovative Korean Dansaekhwa painter Ha Chong Hyun, known for his Conjunction series, was showing at Renzo Piano Pavilion. Both shows were curated to blend into the superbly designed galleries, which sit in vineyards, letting in fabulous natural light. Ha, whose inspiration includes the landscapes of Provence, offered a contemporary perspective on painting, blending meditative tradition with radical experimentation, pushing paint from the back of the burlap fabric to the front.

During the time I spent at Chateau La Coste, McKillen welcomed 200 guests at a Vernissage luncheon under the cool shades of tall trees in his private garden. Over deliciously fresh and simple food, with everything made at the estate and delightful rosé and white wine, we blissfully soaked up the splendid Provence summer.    

This warm hospitality extends to every corner of Chateau La Coste. From the central hub housed in a building designed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando, people seeking a glass of wine or great food don’t need to walk far, as within a few steps, you can eat Provençal, Italian or Argentine fare, enjoy wine from vineyards and stroll under the canopy of trees around the old farmhouses. The dining offerings range from the Michelin-starred Hélène Darroze at La Villa Coste to La Terrasse for simple Provençal lunches and live music. Also, the steak at Francis Mallmann deserves a special mention as it was so good that I had to go back to try it for a second time during my short stay.

You’ll not find any stiffness or aloofness—that often characterises luxury properties—here. Instead, what you will find are genuinely friendly local staff who take pride in their work, the warmth of the Provence sun, stretches of olive and cypress trees, and nature and art’s beautiful coexistence. 

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