In 2000, the Swiss hearing aid magnate Andreas Rihs bought his first French holiday home in an ancient forest in the Luberon, a violet valley of lavender and grapevines, honeycombed with abandoned ocher mines and embellished with medieval hilltop towns. The house was always so full of friends and fellow epicures, his son Tobias Rihs recalls, that when he and his brother wanted to visit, they had to book in advance, like at a hotel.
What’s a wine-loving, Tour de France team–sponsoring billionaire bon vivant to do when he outgrows his villa? Buy a village.
