Our vineyards
at Châteauneuf-du-Pape
terroir
Our estate is made of numerous small parcels with very different soils.
Red wines
-5 hectares of chalky-clay soil and rounded pebbles (galets) : Coteau de l’Ange, l’Arnesque, les Terres Blanches
-4 hectares of red soil : les Gallimardes, le grand chemin de Sorgues
-5.5 hectares of calcareous soil layer and sandy subsoil: Cabrières, Palestor, Bois Dauphin,
-1 hectare of brown calcareous sandy soil: Charbonnière
Each soil brings its own characteristics and different aromas and structures.
White wines :
1,30 hectares of brown calcareous sandy soil : Roumiguières
Farming methods
We are cultivating 17 hectares :
-15,3 hectares of red Chateauneuf-du-Pape
-1,3 hectares of white Chateauneuf-du-Pape
The soil cultivation is as natural as possible :
- ploughing,
- hoeing,
- grassing to avoid erosion
- utilisation of « sexual confusion » to avoid pesticides in the treatment of grape worms
- plant protection products used only when needed
- disbudding and « green harvest » to control yield and promote quality
- manual harvesting and picking out of best grapes
vinification
For the red wine
When the grapes reach the good degree of ripeness, we start harvesting.
We harvest plot by plot rather than by grape variety and we sort out in the vineyard. Then, once in the cellar, we destem 100% of the harvest.
The grapes are vinified in thermostatically controlled concrete tanks for 25 to 30 days where the grape juice ferments, without the addition of yeast, between 73° and 77°F.Then, 10% of the wine is aged in oak barrels, 40% in oak tanks and 50% remain in concrete tanks.
We bottle 18 months later.
Vin blanc
We only harvest and sort in the cool of the morning. The grapes are pressed and chilled in concrete tanks. Then the juice ferments -without yeast- between 55° and 61° F. Finally, we bottled 5 months later.