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“Bringing you the finest places around the world is what we love to do here at Upscale Living magazine. In keeping with this tradition, we are focusing on introducing you to new kids on the block or accommodation establishments with a re-looked lease on life. Grab your travel diary as you want to get to these places as soon as possible!”

| BY HELÉNE RAMACKERS

ABELANA RIVER LODGE

HOEDSPRUIT, SOUTH AFRICA

It takes unfathomable patience and considerable resources, both financial and human, to build a safari lodge. Then, of course, there’s the location, and when it comes to Abelana River Lodge, its prime position on the northern banks of the Selati River, overlooking this beautiful river, is absolutely breathtaking.

With 20 luxurious guest suites and a wonderfully designed and immaculately decorated main lodge area, all overlooking the Selati, building Abelana River Lodge has been a labor of love.

The knowledge and project experience of all involved in this mammoth undertaking have been a major advantage too, especially when ensuring compliance with both safety and environmental requirements while designing and building a lodge that looks amazing, provides incredible facilities and high levels of comfort and convenience in the middle of the African wilderness.

Thank goodness the team at Abelana Game Reserve are old hands when it comes to breathing life into outstanding safari lodges. Drawing on their combined reserve of experience and undertaking, the team took a vision captured in artists’ impressions and turned it into bricks and mortar.

It is no mean feat and fraught with problems, not the least of which was the weather. Even in the home stretch, there were last-minute challenges to contend with. Construction came to a grinding halt earlier this year due to heavy rainfall that swelled the seasonal Selati River and its normally dry tributaries to fast-flowing proportions. This coincided with the main tributary, the Mulati River, coming down in a glorious flood. Reserve is an ethos of sharing that gave rise to its name - the word “abelana” means to share amongst each other in the local Northern Sotho vernacular. The spirit of sharing and caring for every part of the tourism value chain is very much part of Abelana Game Reserve’s DNA.

“As caretakers of this reserve, and working in partnership with the Mashishimale community, it’s important that we nurture a culture of sharing the benefits of what we are doing here,” says Abelana CEO Ian Beauchamp. “This means that we are directly benefitting our community, both through substantial annual lease fees and a tourism levy and through job creation and procurement practices that encourage entrepreneurship and joint venture opportunities,” adds Ian.

https://www.abelanagamereserve.com/

CHÂTEAU TROPLONG MONDOT BORDEAUX, FRANCE

This summer, France is top of the list for a much-needed break, and Château Troplong Mondot, the renowned Premier Grand Cru Classé wine estate in Bordeaux, will welcome guests with a series of new active, romantic and culinary-focused tailor-made experiences to suit the discerning traveler. Just 40 minutes from Bordeaux Airport, the 19th Century Château Troplong Mondot Estate is so much more than a vineyard.

Its ethos is to make wine more accessible by offering a luxurious rural retreat within a dynamic farm and working wine estate. Visitors will delight in the newly refurbished The Keys of Troplong Mondot boutique hotel on the Mondot hilltop and the rustic Vineyard House – a two-bedroom cottage hidden away in the middle of the vines – both restored by interior designer Mathilde Cardineau. team will curate a series of gastronomic delights, working with trusted local suppliers to create authentic French cuisine, using fresh produce, which brings the diverse flavors and wines of the terroir into the spotlight. New for this year, visitors can have access to the Chateau itself through special ‘Secret Table’ suppers and enjoy outdoor picnics in secret spots around the estate.

Under the loving eye of General Manager, Aymeric de Gironde, and his team, everything is done with sustainability in mind. Living in harmony with the land and preserving its biodiversity is embedded in the very soul of Château Troplong Mondot.

Gourmand guests will work up an appetite for the gastronomic delights of Michelin-starred Chef David Charrier with an active 3 - 4-night experience at The Keys of Troplong Mondot. Starting in July, guests can kick off the day with a choice of running trails designed by Marathon runner, Chef David Charrier and led by the hospitality team – winding through the vines of Saint-Émilion, past neighboring Premier Grand Cru Classé estates, enjoying spectacular views of the Dordogne valley from the top of the Troplong Mondot estate – the highest in Saint-Émilion.

Guests can slow down the pace with an electric bike ride to explore the cultural treasures of the region. Take time to wander through Saint-Émilion – home to a fascinating underground troglodyte heritage, including the biggest monolithic church in Europe and stop by the delicious independent food shops to enjoy exclusive tastings.

https://www.troplong-mondot. com/en/

PUKU RIDGE

SOUTH LUANGWA NATIONAL PARK, ZAMBIA

Located deep inside Zambia’s incredible South Luangwa National Park, Puku Ridge is a completely reimagined tented camp, which combines the perfect blend of wilderness, luxury, and responsibility. Officially opening in 2020, the camp and its eight tented suites offer another level of comfort and design with custom-built, near-silent air-conditioning, rooftop star beds, and private plunge pools.

The camp is a collaboration between Chiawa Safaris – which owns Chiawa Camp and Old Mondoro – and Chichele Safaris, who purchased Puku Ridge and Chichele Presidential Lodge (Chichele is expected to reopen late 2020/early 2021) from Sanctuary Retreats in 2018. For guests, this partnership means the same highest levels of hospitality, awesome location, fabulous game viewing, inspired and competent guiding, and responsible interaction with the local community, as Chiawa Safaris celebrated Lower Zambezi camps.

Positioned on one of the South Luangwa National Park’s prime secluded sites, Puku Ridge blends in beautifully with its natural surroundings and overlooks a wildlife-rich floodplain and waterhole, where there is always something to see. When venturing out of the camp, guests will enjoy the area’s varied landscape and its spectacular wildlife, including leopards, lions, elephants, buffalos, hippos, wild dogs, the endemic Thornicroft’s giraffe, and Cookson’s wildebeest, genet cats, various mongooses, civets, and honey badgers.

When not on drives or exploring the area on foot, guests will be looked after by Jason and Kayla Johnstone (who managed Chiawa Camp and Old Mondoro for five years) and can spend time in the photography hide, relaxing in the elegant lounge and terrace areas, dining on international cuisine with local influences, sharing safari stories around the fire pit, and stargazing from the star terrace with its telescope.

For a little more privacy, each suite has a private deck, complete with sun loungers and plunge pool. One of the suites’ other key features is the rooftop, four-poster star bed, where guests can sleep under the stars to the sounds of the bush (while still having all the comforts of their suite downstairs).

Throughout the camp, aesthetics, function, and comfort were the priority in Chiawa Safari’s vision, which has been brought to life by Luxury Frontiers, who are international experts in the design and development of experiential resorts and lodges, while minimizing the camp’s carbon footprint and repurposing many of the old materials.

From France to Sonoma, Winemaking is a SEILLAN FAMILY AFFAIR

| BY FRAN ENDICOTT MILLER

All photos courtesy of Château Lassègue and Vérité

It can easily be claimed that wine runs through the veins of the Seillan family. As co-proprietors with Jackson Family Wines of Château Lassègue in France’s Saint-Émilion region, and as vignerons of Sonoma County’s Vérité, patriarch Pierre Seillan and his children Hélène and Nicolas steward their vineyards on two continents utilizing Old World expertise and flawless, modern winemaking technique.

A sixth generation vigneron, Pierre’s career in the wine industry began at his family’s French estate, Bellevue. Located in Gascony, France, this idyllic spot is where he learned to farm the vineyards. Later, he focused his efforts at Château de Targé in the Loire Valley before spending two decades in Bordeaux managing several châteaux across eight different appellations, an experience that allowed him to explore the nuances between various vineyard sites, creating the basis for his micro-cru (vineyards-within-vineyards) philosophy that allows him to build the elegant and complex architecture of his current wines.

“I am a vigneron, not a winemaker, which means that whichever country in which I am making wine, I am a servant of that soil, working with hundreds of different micro-crus in each location,” says Pierre, who pivoted in the mid 1990’s upon meeting American winemakers Jess Jackson and his wife Barbara Banke who convinced him to join Sonoma-based Jackson Family Wines as vigneron. Recognizing the potential of the Sonoma County terroir, located in the foothills of the Mayacamas Mountain Range, and excited about the possibility of crafting his own wines in California, he accepted. Together, they created Vérité (French for ‘truth’), a label that, since its first 1998 vintage, has consistently achieved great acclaim, including fifteen perfect 100-point scores from Robert Parker Wine Advocate.

“Wherever I am, the soil make-up is my inspiration. I analyze the topography, elevation, vegetation, and climate in terms of wind and rainfall each year, levels of heat during the growing season, and position to the sun. My understanding and sensitivity to these elements is what makes the difference in my work. But never forget - as soon as you think you have the knowledge, you have more to learn. It is the diversity of micro-crus that allows me to create the quality and complexity of the wines but also the essential style at Vérité and Château Lassègue.” Pierre’s Jackson Family Wines partnership continued to flourish and in 2001, he crafted the inaugural vintage of Anakota, a single vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, inspired by the unique terroir of Knights Valley in Sonoma County. In 2002, he began crafting Arcanum at the Tenuta di Arceno estate in Tuscany, and he returned to France in 2003 when he and the Jackson/Banke family purchased the 17th century Saint-Émilion estate Château Lassègue in Bordeaux.

Today, Pierre splits his time between Tuscany and Bordeaux, where son Nicolas serves as vice president of both Tenuta di Arceno and Château Lassègue, and Sonoma, where daughter Hélène serves as Vérité’s assistant winemaker. Having learned at the heels of their dad, the siblings share his passion for respecting the soil and allowing the terroir to speak through their wines.

At Château Lassègue, built in 1738, Nicolas is responsible for production (vineyards, winemaking and bottling), accounting, and finance. He tends old-growth vines that create a rich, aromatic Cabernet Franc/Merlot/Cabernet Sauvignon blend that is powerful and elegant. The ornate sundials that adorn the stunning façade of Château Lassègue are a nod to the vineyards’ perfect dawn-to-dusk sun exposure; the vines grow on south by southwest facing hills amidst rich soils of clay and limestone that add exquisite minerality to their fruit. At Tenuta di Arceno, he focuses on administration and with Pierre oversees operations.

“Watching my father managing several estates and crafting wines as I was growing up, I learned to observe and respect nature, and also to work with integrity and perseverance,” says Nicolas with overt respect for his father. “From a very early age, he trained me to produce wines that reflect their origins by listening to instinct and staying close to your roots. We both pay quite a lot of attention to the details, we are both stubborn, and we both have a very strong work ethic. I admire his intuition, loyalty, leadership and the inspiration he gives others.”

Replies Pierre, “In my opinion, Nicolas is one of the most ‘complete’ vignerons on the planet. Today, along with his wife Christina, he manages Château Lassègue with incredibly high precision on both the business and production side. Under Nicolas, the quality of the wines of Château Lassègue continues to improve, yet

he maintains the style while respecting the terroir of Saint-Émilion.”

At Vérité, Hélène works alongside her father on vineyard operations, harvest dates, winemaking protocols, and blending her family’s Old World expertise with New World fruit to produce three of the most critically acclaimed Bordeaux blends ever produced: the Merlot-based La Muse, the Cabernet Sauvignon-based La Joie, and the Cabernet Francbased Le Désir.

Hélène started her wine career at Château Lassègue in 2003, an environment that provided unparalleled experience and a comprehensive overview of every step in the farming and winemaking process. By 2006, she held the role of the estate’s assistant vigneron. She returned to California and Vérité in 2008, bringing with her everything she learned from her time in Saint-Émilion.

She is dedicated to continuing what her father started and takes utmost care in every step of the viticultural and winemaking process; every vineyard is an intricate patchwork of soils, microclimates, exposures, and elevations. Rather than treat each site as a single entity, Hélène and her father have chosen the absolute best quality micro-parcels from existing vineyards. After twenty years of careful study of the Sonoma terroir, they have identified more than 100 of these tiny micro-crus, representing a palette of more than 40 different soil types spanning 2400 ft. in elevation.

“My daughter has exceptional talent and totally understands the style of Vérité,” says Pierre. “She is the perfect person to continue Vérité. She understands the complexity of the blends and we have been repairing vineyards for new stock to ensure not just the protection of the quality but also the style of the wines.”

“I believe it is my duty and responsibility to keep the signature that my father created 20 years ago,” adds Hélène, who remains extremely close with her brother. The two are in constant communication about Vérité and Chateau Lassègue. “At any moment Nicolas and I could switch places and you wouldn’ t know a difference in the resulting wine.”

“We all work toward the same goal with the same voice,” says Pierre. “Quality without style doesn’t mean anything. It is the style that is the reference of the quality.”

NICHOLAS SEILLAN

HÉLÈNE SEILLAN

CHÂTEAU LASSÈGUE ESTATE