Château Miraval: open for wine & song

Rekindle your inner Pink Floyd! Studio Miraval at the château will reopen for bookings from musicians from summer, 2022. Chateau Miraval’s iconic studio has been renovated by owner Brad Pitt and French composer Damien Quintard into a beautiful state-of-the-art recording studio.

Brad Pitt is a Hollywood superstar. This we all know. What is perhaps lesser known is just how savvy a businessman he is – besides, of course, his forays into the world of fine wine where he has demonstarted remarkable business acumen and made very successful, award-winning wine.

His first wine project wine was with ex-wife Angelina Jolie, when they bought Château Miraval in the south of France, and began producing world-beating rosé wines in association with the Perrin family of Château Beaucastel, the iconic estate in Chateauneuf-du-Pape AOC. However, not many knew then that Miraval estate itself was a place where musical history had once been made.

It’s a fascinating story for lovers of wine and music. Read on.

In 1977, the estate’s then-owner, French pianist and composer Jacques Loussier, built a state-of-the-art recording studio on the property, called Studio Miraval, which went on to host sessions for Pink Floyd’s “The Wall,” AC/DC, The Cure, Sting, Sade, and The Cranberries, among others. The studio was active into the early 2000s but has sat unused for nearly two decades.

Until now. This summer, Miraval Studios at the famed Château Miraval will reopen its doors after a major renovation plotted and overseen by owner Pitt along with Emmy-winning French producer Damien Quintard. The re-designed and updated Miraval Studios will honour the past while pushing forward a new take on recording, amid a breath-taking vista aimed at nurturing creative expression.

**Brad Pitt and French composer Damien Quintard. (Above) at work in the studio. Exclusive images by Helene Hadjiyianni**

Few partners are better suited to making this dream a reality than Quintard, a musical prodigy and rising star in the recording industry. Having first found fame in the world of classical music, Quintard has developed a signature approach that garnered an Emmy Award for his work on the Baku 2015 European Olympic Opening Ceremony. He has also produced artists such as Brian Eno, Arca, Parcels and Teodor Currentzis, among others.

Impressed by his work, Pitt asked Quintard to meet. “When we met in Paris, we immediately clicked. It was an intense moment where we just talked and talked about sound. I was amazed at how sensitive and precise he was in his analysis of music,” says Quintard. The decision to work together was an easy one, but the duo soon had a more challenging one to make: whether to move ahead with Miraval in its current state or, essentially, start from scratch. Luckily, even after nearly 20 years of disuse, the equipment was still in good working order, but Quintard saw aesthetic possibilities beyond the extant design of the studio.

The Miraval estate is already a stunning property (see main picture), and this redesign aims to highlight and enhance its beauty with natural light as the heart of the re-design. In addition to the original equipment which has seen so many classic albums being recorded, the studio is built around a desk designed by Pitt and Quintard with hybrid analog/digital capacities, while boasting a fully-integrated Dolby Atmos system as well as technology to handle pre-mixing for film and television. With its 25-foot ceilings, Studio One has a 100 square metre control room and 320 square metre live room that conserves what Quintard describes as the “heritage of the quirky sound” of the iconic drum room pioneered by Loussier.

The facility has also “redefined a remarkable natural reverb so we can record voices or instruments anywhere in the studio. It really is a space where you can produce anything from pop and rock, to hip-hop and classical records,” Quintard says. Elsewhere, there are recording booths, a room housing drool-worthy vintage synthesizers and other rare gear, work stations for sound and video editing, a mezzanine overlooking the entire studio, a swimming pool and a tower connected to the studio to house visiting bands and musicians on the property, be it for a day or a month. Naturally, the catering from the Château will be fantastic.

Quintard and Pitt say they are ‘excited for musicians to be a part of what we have created’

“The combination of Brad’s vision for Miraval and our common passion for taking the time to make simple but beautiful things has resulted in something that is one-of-a-kind,” says Quintard. “We are so excited for musicians of all types to be a part of what we’ve created.”