Vines run right up to the walls of this old Provencal bastide on the sunnier southern flank of the Luberon, and the grapes you wander past at dusk end up in your glass at dinner. It belongs to Les Domaines de Fontenille, a small group that would rather make its own wine than print somebody else's on a list. Elderly cedars shade the pool, donkeys and hens patrol the lawn, and the vaulted cellar has been handed over to contemporary art, rehung a few times a year. Two kitchens cook here: one chasing stars, one feeding you straight from the vegetable garden. We'd happily eat in both.
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Salons flow into one another beneath floral papers and white walls, furnished with pale wood, straw-seated oak and enough squashy corners to lose half a day in. Outside, water murmurs in the parterre, cedars throw shade across the pool, and pétanque balls click somewhere beyond the hedge most afternoons. The old wine cellar, cool and cavernous, is now the gallery. Donkeys, lambs and a scruffy committee of hens patrol the grounds near the dovecote, which has become a playroom for children.
Accommodation splits between the original bastide and a newer clutch of garden rooms, where glass and steel sit against old masonry without pretending to match. Superior rooms are the smallest and simplest, all parquet, oatmeal linen and roomy showers. Executive rooms add private verandas crowded with geraniums in terracotta pots. At the top, the Alphonse de Savornin suite stretches across an entire corner of the bastide, with cedars filling every window.
Come at harvest and you can pick, or spend a morning blending your own bottle, which will change the way you read a wine label for good. Semi-electric bikes make short work of the ride into Lourmarin, all shuttered boutiques and market stalls, but you'll want a car for Gordes and the ochre cliffs of Roussillon further on. Summer nights bring films on the lawn and jazz under the stars. Bring proper shoes, as these hilltop villages punish flimsy sandals. Or stay put by the pool with a bottle of the estate rosé.
Wandering the vines at golden hour, then drinking what those rows produced, poured by somebody who helped pick them.
If you can, land here during one of the cellar's exhibition openings: local artists, estate wine and half the Luberon's creative set in a stone vault. They're not advertised, so mention it when you book.
The smart tasting menu divides opinion: some nights it soars, some nights it merely satisfies. The garden bistro rarely puts a foot wrong.
Start with a recommended trip or create one from scratch
Domaine de Fontenille can be booked with Timbuktu as part of a tailor-made France trip, rather than as a standalone room reservation. Start online, customising one of our recommended France trips featuring Domaine de Fontenille or get advice and suggestions from one of our France specialists who will design the trip around your dates, check availability and handle every booking for you.
Stays at Domaine de Fontenille start from around $210, or US$210, per person per night as part of a tailor-made trip. The exact price depends on your travel dates, room type and the shape of the rest of your itinerary. A Timbuktu travel specialist can give you an accurate quote for your dates.
An aromatic wonderland where lavender whispers sweet nothings to the olive groves, and the light seems to dance with an artist's touch.
