Château Miraval, Correns-Var
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Château Miraval, Correns-Var, is a wine château in the hamlet of Correns, just north of Brignoles, a small village in the Var in the south of France. The château hit the headlines in late May 2008 when it was revealed that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had leased it with an option to buy, after surveying prospective properties by helicopter,[1] with the intention of having the twins they expected born in France.
The château, in a modest vernacular style, has thirty-five rooms. It is surrounded by gardens with a moat and fountains and a chapel, and by its vineyard, recently-planted olive grove and by the surrounding garrigue and woodlands of evergreen and white oak, and Stone Pine, Aleppo Pine and Maritime Pine.
A previous owner, the French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier, installed a recording studio in the château: Sting recorded there, as did the Cranberries[2], and Pink Floyd laid down tracks for The Wall album, released in 1979. Its more recent American owner, Tom Bove, who bought the domaine in 1993 and has modernised its viticulture, which had been producing simple vin de pays, has added a spa, Jacuzzi, twin gyms and an indoor pool.
The château had previously been known for its wines, white wines under the Coteaux Varois appellation and red, white and rosé wine under the Côtes de Provence appellation:[3] the Guide Hachette called it one of France's top 500 wine producers.[4] The domaine consists of 400 hectares (1000 acres) of which 30 hectares on the valley floor are devoted to vines.
A series of winding stone terraces following the profiles of the slopes are planted with thirteen varieties of olives. The immense wine cellar of Miraval were built in 1850 by Joseph Lombot, the inventor of reinforced concrete, who owned the nearby domaine of La Celle.
Miraval estate is located on a site first inhabited in pre-Roman times. Today, it features fountains, ancient aqueducts, a moat, a pond and the vineyards producing a highly esteemed organic wine.[5]
