Hauts de Sancerre

Some people have vision—they instantly know what they can and want to do. Others have luck on their side, with the stars aligning whatever the project. Audrey and David, it seems, have both. They slipped a purchase offer into a mailbox as if casting a message in a bottle—and it worked. They imagined creating, in this château overlooking Sancerre, its hillsides and the Loire below, a hotel blending luxury, charm and artistic vision—and it took shape. So they reinvented this late 19th-century château, quietly tucked away; they reimagined life here among the vines. With Jérôme Lescrenier overseeing the spatial design, light flows freely, while whites—plural—dress walls and furniture, punctuated by touches of black playing against an elegant bottle green or a subtle putty tone. With Stanislas de Poucques as artistic director, artworks—Vasarely foremost, no less—dot the garden, while Emma Terweduwe and Roan van Oort add refined accents. As for the cuisine, they entrusted it to a very young chef, Arnaud Munster, who delivers a highly personal interpretation of the Loire’s terroirs, showing both flair and maturity. A second phase of work will, by summer 2026, provide him with a dining room to match his talent—and no doubt his ambitions—while additional rooms will open in the outbuildings and in the sublime Tour des Fiefs that still presides over the estate.