For more than a century, Château de Beaucastel, a vineyard in Provence, has produced some of France’s finest Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côtes du Rhône. During much of that time, owners Jacques and Marguerite Perrin followed the biodynamic practices of philosopher Rudolf Steiner, expanding the winery in the 1950s to increase quantity and quality. All the while, the couple lived in the vineyard’s historic stone house, Marguerite remaining long after Jacques’s death in 1978, and resisting change to it or the architecture. “Once I’m gone,” she told her grandchildren, “you can do as you please.”
Following her passing in 2016, the cousins decided not only to renovate the property but rethink it, nearly doubling the size of the winery and turning much of the house into reception and tasting spaces. And in keeping with the estate’s agricultural philosophy, they wanted to do so as sustainably as possible. Mounting a design competition, they received over 300 applications from around the world, among them a proposal from Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, in partnership with Studio Méditerranée, an architecture firm in Avignon, France, founded by Louis-Antoine Grégo, Jain’s former associate.
“Your grandfather was a visionary with the land, so we will build with the earth—very little cement, no steel—and generate no waste,” the team pitched. Jain was even more specific: “We wanted the site to have a dialogue of what they do on this land, to synthesize their grandfather’s vision as gracefully and gently as possible—a shared sentiment toward the earth, the ground, the cultivation of the grapes, the wind, and the rain; a haptic experience embedded in our sense of being.” The family liked what they heard. “We chose it because it has a link to our history, our earth, nature, and humanity,” explained co-owner and winemaker César Perrin, during a recent tour.