In 2007 a Franco-German architect couple decided to move to the village and reinvent the concept of winemaking and tourism. This explosive mixture gave birth to an exceptional project: Riberach.
The story began with Luc Richard, an architect passionate about wine and a child of the village of Bélesta. Close to his heart was a childhood desire he wanted to make real: to make his own wine and follow in the footsteps of his grandfather. He joined forces with three professionals: winemaker Jean-Michel Mailloles, œnologue Patrick Rodrigues, and Austrian sommelier Moritz Herzog, responsible for commercialisation.
Karin Pühringer, of German origin and a lover of the region, integrated herself quickly into the village. While her husband Luc launched his first wine wine in 2006, she had already developed an ambitious project, full of promise for Bélesta. The village’s wine cooperative had lay abandoned for ten years: after some reflection, the two architects decided to acquire the building and to give it a second life by transforming it into a centre for wine-tourism composed of a top class hotel, a gastronomic restaurant and a wine cellar for the wines of Riberach.
From this marriage of ideas and people was born a unique concept built upon the vestiges of an agro-industrial site. This former cathedral of wine, founded in 1925, found its soul again while retaining the viticultural and historical character of Bélesta’s wine cooperative.