Dreamland Oasis

A lot of people love art. Few people love it, or can afford to love it, as much as Patrick McKillen, who turned an old French vineyard into a striking hotel with a collection of art and architecture to rival the world\u2019s best.

We\u2019ll start with a little inside baseball. We considered making the title for this story \u201cNight at the Museum.\u201d It felt appropriate, and clever enough. But we realized that it wouldn\u2019t be accurate. Villa La Coste is much more than a hotel with some artworks. It\u2019s a sculpture park, a design center, an architectural showcase. It\u2019s 600 acres of art-obsessed ambition, all borne from the passion of one man. So, \u201cNight at the Museum\u201d went back on the shelf, woefully inadequate as a description of Villa La Coste.

How to describe it then? Let\u2019s start at the start. Before there was any art at Villa La Coste (or any hotel, for that matter), there was a vineyard \u2014 a historic Proven\u00e7al wine estate called Ch\u00e2teau La Coste. Centuries after Roman planters cultivated the first grapes here, an Irish real estate developer named Patrick McKillen drove his car through the entrance. He\u2019d recently looked at an annoying number of properties in the French countryside, searching in vain for the perfect purchase. Now he was looking at Ch\u00e2teau La Coste.

He didn\u2019t get 20 meters before he decided to buy it. That quickly, he\u2019d knew he found his muse.

The businessman acquired the old estate in 2002, determined to bring to it modernity through the prism of his own obsessions. He did \u2014 and today Villa La Coste has earned its spot among the first ever Three Key properties awarded by the MICHELIN Guide.

The estate contains several entities: the art exhibitions, the wine estate, the restaurants, and the hotel. Let\u2019s start with the first. Behind every rolling hill here is another work by another world-renowned artist. A bronze spider by the great contemporary artist Louise Bourgeois sits on the water. A pavilion by the impossibly decorated Italian architect Renzo Piano hosts rotating exhibits. Elsewhere, structures by Frank Gehry and Tadao Ando and Richard Serra rise out of the green fields. You\u2019ll even find the last project by architectural titan Oscar Niemeyer (alongside installations from relative lightweights Bob Dylan and Michael Stipe). The latest work comes courtesy of Damien Hirst, a temporary exhibit that will run until June 2024.

It\u2019s a concentration of talent that rivals some big urban museums; nothing less than a dreamland for anyone who loves art and adores architecture. And it might not even be the estate\u2019s top priority.

Despite the legendary artists, wine is still the underlying focus at Ch\u00e2teau La Coste, which produces organic reds, whites, ros\u00e9s, and even a new, non-alcoholic variety called Nooh. But of course, as soon as this place was acquired by Patrick McKillen, it was destined for another type of vintage. Always an enthusiast, McKillen has long had friends with massive names in the creative worlds. When the estate needed new wine cellars, McKillen called on a certain Jean Nouvel, among France\u2019s greatest living architects. Nouvel\u2019s chai \u00e0 vinification are two massive, bright silver cylinders connected underground where grapes are harvested and bottles stored.

It\u2019s a good example of the way that the art here feels inextricably connected to the property. McKillen\u2019s vision was to transform Ch\u00e2teau La Coste estate into a playground for artists and architects \u2014 and for many, the work they contributed became part of the physical fabric of the estate. Ai Weiwei\u2019s piece is a winding stone pathway that connects two older routes on the property. Alexander Calder\u2019s is a steel mobile, an overwater sculpture now outside the large building that serves as welcome center and restaurant.

Some works were already part of McKillen\u2019s extensive collection, waiting for their permanent home. For others, the enthusiast dusted off his address book. Louise Bourgeois was one of the first asked. Although her famous spiders were so far reserved for museums, McKillen\u2019s pitch to place it above water and complement it with work from minimalist Japanese architect Tadao Ando convinced her to bring one here. Today, you can admire the sculpture dabbling in the shade of the glass and concrete walls of the Tadao Ando\u2013designed art center.

After years of commissions and aggregation, the estate opened to the public in 2011. Some five years later, another priority was added. Visitors could now stay overnight at the newly opened, highly luxurious hotel on the property: Villa La Coste.