“An artistic metaphor for the philosophy of the Roletsʼ mission to highlight the integrity, beauty, and history of the site, enhancing and reinventing it without changing its essence.”
Oak trees are rich with symbolism in every culture. Celtic tribes, early settlers of the area, hailed the oak the king of the green realm; an emblem of wisdom and strength.
The oak leaf laden ‘Green Man’, often depicted as a (Chêne) blue-green colour in images, is believed to symbolise re-birth.
Our beautiful oak – which then became blue - presided for several centuries over the vineyard, the apiary and the orchard.
During the great drought of 2005, this mighty oak was rescued and transformed by Marc Nucera, a young Provençal tree sculptor of international repute. He treated its branches with ‘bouillie bordelaise’, the blue-green solution used to protect vineyards around the world.
The tree’s color highlights its striking shape and the enduring inner strength of its architecture; revealing an arresting piece of natural art.
The tree became a fitting symbol of our desire to highlight Nature’s power and beauty.
Our wines were in tank a long time before release, so we thought we’d have a leisurely period to choose a name. Instead, it almost turned into a much more complicated process than the winemaking itself! The four of us — Xavier, Jean-Louis, Bénédicte and I — naturally all had our personal preferences for a name, but there was never a clear winner.
We decided to write a brief, and put the challenge to our friends and family, offering a very fine [wine] reward for the chosen submission. To our absolute delight, we received hundreds upon hundreds of ideas from around the world — it was like the owls flying in with letters from the Harry Potter movies!
Marc Nucera’s treatment drew attention to the three trunks of the tree, evocative of a bouquet or a peacock’s tail.
We sat down with our shortlists, but there was still no joy. Disappointed, we took a break, during which I accompanied Xavier to the apiary at the base of the blue oak tree to check on his bees.
I was suddenly struck by the tree's incredible relevance as a metaphor; it represented our resolve to preserve the historical beauty of the property, while integrating more innovative ways to enhance the estate’s natural attributes.
The Four Seasons of a Blue Oak.
I suggested the name ‘Chêne Bleu’ to Xavier, Jean-Louis and Bénédicte, and to my surprise they liked it immediately. “He who finds without seeking has long sought without finding” wrote Gaston Bachelard.
We were delighted to be able to share a reward amongst all those who had offered suggestions. And so our Chêne Bleu wines came to be…
Chene Bleu 2.0, in the design stage…. Watch this space!.
Our Blue Oak was a piece of living art, and we knew that one day it would fall— which is exactly what happened in 2021—its roots rendered fragile by the mighty microbiome in our soils, it was taken by a big storm. We were originally told it would be with us for five years, but we were lucky to have it with us for more than fifteen. That set in motion a world-wide search for the best ideas to replace it.
We eventually collaborated with the exceptionally talented artist and landscape designer Isabelle De La Touche, who led us to the dynamic Italian architect/designer duo Paolo and Maria Grazia of Studio CC in Turin. Our new sculpture is intended to be fully evocative of the original tree, but also, with its mix of presence and translucence, to serve as a metaphorical phantom-like Phoenix, rising from the site’s sacred soil to the sky.”
— Nicole
Our blue oak’s life was sadly trunKated, but it’s spirit lives on….
“A fitting metaphor for our hard-driving philosophy”
“A fitting metaphor for our hard-driving philosophy.”
