When dining in the clubhouse at Pont Royal, one is
obliged to meet the head chef, Thierry Candaele, a barrel-chested Frenchman with
curly gray hair and abundant bonhomie. In the Gallic fashion he glides from
table to table, doling out multilingual pleasantries, accepting well-erned
compliments and making sure that all is just so.
But at our table something is amiss. With a quick
scowl Candaele eyes our vin de pays and lets loose with a wave of apologies. He
snatches the bottle away, returns with an upgrade and issues one last apology
before moving to the next table of guests.
The wine he replaced? Only a Chateauneuf-du-Pape,
one of the world’s most celebrated appellations.
Welcome to Provence, where the good life is so pervasive
it’s basically taken for granted. Only in the Provence region, extending north from coastl hubs
Marseille, Toulon and Nice, does one come to expect this
sort of finer touch.
The south of France is, of
course, one of the world’s great resort regions, with endless beaches, Roman
ruins, peerless cuisine, gracious accommodations large and small, and clubhouse
chefs going out of their way to ensure you’re drinking the best vintages
possible.
The golf isn’t bad, either. The region of
France possesses more than a dozen
superb golf venues, all in relatively close proximity to one another. Pont
Royal, for starters, is a first-rate parkland design situated in Mallemort,
equal distances from both Avignon and Aix-en-Provence.
Designed by Seve Ballesteros, Pont Royal gallops
over lush, dramatic terrain, skirting water hazards and topiary gardens by turn.
The Pont Royal layout is just part of a unique, eponymous resort designed to
look and feel like a typical Provençal hill town, complete with pink-washed
stone walls, terra cotta roof tiles, narrow walking lanes and small shops
selling local wines, breads and cheeses. There are modern niceties as well:
several enormous pools, Seve’s 18 holes, the lovely Hotel du Golf overlooking
the 9th and 15th greens, and a clubhouse with stunning fare, thanks to
Candaele.
A more typical resort experience can be had at the
new Four Seasons Resort Provence at Terre Blanche, just west of Aix in
the Var region. With its 45 villas, this address combines Four Seasons luxury
with 36 superb holes from English architect Dave Thomas, designer of The Belfry.
(Don’t hold that against him; the courses here are excellent.) Both tracks, Le
Chateau and Le Riou, were cut from a mountainous pine
forest.
