About us

'Les Beaux Terroirs' is owned by Sam Owens. He bought the place in 2004 when most of the property was an uninhabited wreck and has renovated it from top to bottom. Rosie the cat turned up a year later.

A rabid Euro- and Francophile, he has owned/run a chalet in Chamonix since 2003, which is open for winter and summer holidays - see www.chaletpt.com.

He spends half his time in France shuttling between St Andre, Chamonix and various wine producers. The rest of the time, he's in London with other half Elissa and her girls Lottie and Gracie.

Read about the latest tales of quaffing wine in the South of France in 'Vivez en rose!' >>>

'Les Beaux Terroirs' - what it means...

Sam is also a complete wine nut and owns wholesale wine company, selling to the British tour operators in the Alps and now also to customers in the UK. When deciding what to call the place, it obviously had to be connected with wine. 'Terroir' is a word for which there is no exact English translation, but roughly it implies 'a sense of place'. The thinking is that a wine is intrinsically imprinted with the character of the place it comes from - i.e. from the soils, the rocks, its orientation, its climate. 'Les Beaux Terroirs' hence means 'the beautiful terroirs'.

The concept of terroir is anathema to those who believe that wine should become a standardised product just like Coca-Cola or the Big Mac. But terroir lies at heart of what makes wine such an endlessly fascinating and pleasurable interest and we should all champion it...