Châteauneuf-du-Pape

          An episcopal wine that draws its power and self-assurance from several zones of the appellation. Each parcel contributes to the overall picture.

LOCATION :  The plots are to be found at Le Pradel and La Font du Pape, respectively to the east and centre of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

SURFACE AREA : 2.9 hectares.

GEOLOGY : Soils rich in sandy clay on the surface with very calcareous subsoils and some round pebbles.   

METHOD OF CULTIVATION : Ecocert-certified organic and Demeter-certified biodynamic.

GRAPE VARIETIES : Grenache 70%, Syrah 30%.

AGE OF VINES : Average 60 years.

HARVESTING & VINIFICATION : The grapes are hand-picked into crates and sorted manually in the vineyard before a second, table sorting in the cellar.  A proportion is destemmed, the quantity being determined by the nature of the vintage and the parcel, and the grapes are fed by gravity into the vats to ensure the integrity of the berries.  Fermentation takes place in thermo-regulated stainless-steel vats for 20 to 30 days, with two long pumping over sessions daily. Punching down is decided after tasting. Pressed pneumatically. Malolactic fermentation in vat. The wines are clarified by settling over winter in the cellar. Ageing begins in the spring. 

AGEING : 18 months in 36-hectolitre oak Stockinger foudres, and 8-hectolitre terracotta amphorae. Unfined and unfiltered at bottling.

PERSONALITY : The Provencal translation of La Font du Pape suggests a place where water is to be found, ideal for Syrah, or rather Serines, to express their fresh crispness. Through the emblematic grapes of our region, Grenache and Syrah, this union of terroirs finds it vocation in the coherent and elegant wines that it creates.