132 F R A N C E | S O U T H E R N R H Ô N E arch-traditionalist Château Rayas, for instance, situated on the plateau behind Château de
Vaudieu, have hardly any galets but instead a high proportion of chipped clay stones, alluvial deposits, clay, and sand. The map opposite shows with unparalleled precision exactly which soil type predominates where in Châteauneuf.
Many producers own parcels of vines in several di!erent soil types, typically blending them into one cuvée, but more and more of them are also bottling one or even several premium-priced special cuvées which may showcase one particular terroir, or may be made from the producer’s oldest vines, or a single grape variety. Other variables include the amount of new wood (no great friend of Grenache) used, size and material of cask, and the precise proportions of the different grape varieties in the blend.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Châteauneuf-du-Pape the place is no more than a stoney village in arid, scented Provençal countryside, dominated by a ruined papal summer palace. The wine that bears its imposing name, though, is the magnificent standard-bearer for the dynamic southern Rhône, making France’s most potent, and some of its most individualistic, wines – both red and white.
Grenache is the backbone of the AOC, often blended with Mourvèdre and Syrah together with some Cinsault, Counoise (a local speciality), and small amounts of Vaccarèse, Muscardin, Picpoul, and Terret Noir, and the light-skinned Clairette,
Bourboulenc, Roussanne (which is much easier to grow in the southern than the northern Rhône), and the neutral Picardan. Château de Beaucastel and Clos des Papes, unusually, persist with all 13.
(The other five listed in the AOC regulations are
Clairette Rosé and both white and pink forms of Grenache and Picpoul.)
Châteauneuf-du-Pape has always had the distinction of having the highest minimum strength of any French wine: 12.5% alcohol. But in this era of global warming, its wines are rarely less than 14.5% and occasionally reach 16%, presenting a challenge to growers, winemakers
– and wine drinkers. The region is also the birthplace of France’s famous Appellations d’Origine Contrôlées (AOC). In 1923 its most famous grower, Baron Le Roy of Château Fortia, delimited the land arid enough to support both lavender and thyme, thereby laying the foundation stones for the entire AOC system.
Well over 90% of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is red but is hugely variable in style. Most is easy to like, being spicy, rich, and strong. Big companies and co-operatives may blend a lightish, sweetish version for relatively early drinking, but
Châteauneuf today is much more likely to be the produce of an ambitious, family-owned estate making highly individual, age-worthy wines that express their particular combination of terroirs and grape varieties. Châteauneuf-du-Pape is unusual in its cocktail of as many as 18 permitted varieties (once 13, but different colours of the same grape are now listed as separate varieties).
A flirtation with Syrah, which can lack freshness this far south, has been widely replaced by an increasing affection for the late-ripening
Mourvèdre now that summers are generally so warm. Its inclusion in a blend can help rein in the alcoholic excesses of Grenache in hot years.
The red wines, often tough in youth thanks to the dry summers, can age to sumptuous, sometimes gamey, depths of flavour. The much rarer whites, succulent in the first few years, can develop even more exotic scents when fully mature, after an often-sulky middle age. Many producers use heavy, burgundy-shaped bottles embossed according to which of several rival producers’ associations they belong to.
Thin soils on bedrock
Hard Cretaceous limestone
Thin soils on slightly weathered rock
Cretaceous limestone modified by ploughing
Miocene sandstone and molasse
Immature soils on valley alluvium
Coarsely fragmented sandy clay
Finely fragmented sandy clay
Sandy clay with many pebbles
Sand, clay, and stones
The Châteauneuf-du-Pape cliché is the galet, the rounded, heat-absorbing stone found almost exclusively in some of its vineyards, but in reality soils within this relatively small area are extremely varied. The famous vineyards of Slopes covered by immature soils
Unrefined scree rich in Cretaceous limestone fragments
Colluvium (fine scree) rich in sand on
Miocene molasse
Colluvium rich in sand and clay from the valley floor
Brown soils (moderately weathered) rich in limestone
Clay soil on Cretaceous marl
Sandy soil on Miocene molasse
Soils rich in limestone on ancient gravelly alluvium on ancient alluvium and modified molassic sand
Red, iron-rich soils from the plateau
Red soil on ancient gravelly alluvium
Red and limestone soils on
Cretaceous limestone
Deep-red soil on ancient alluvium and quartzite pebbles (galets)
Clay-rich soils from the valley floor
Thin, fine-textured soil (clay and fine sand)
The most established estates, such as progressive Château de Beaucastel, modernist La
Nerthe, and determinedly
Thick, fine- and medium-textured soil
(clay, sand, small pebbles) mono-cuvée Clos des Papes, are being challenged by the likes of the Férauds at Domaine du
Pegaü with their limited-edition bottlings such as Da Capo.
Appellation boundary
Commune (parish) boundary
Lieu-dit boundary
Notable producer
VILLENEUVE C h â t e a u n e u f - d u - Pa p e | S O U T H E R N R H Ô N E | F R A N C E 133
Châteauneufdu-Pape
CH DE
BEAUCASTEL
1:37,000
Coudoulet
Nîmes
00.5 1 Km
00.5 Mile la Barnouine
A
B
Bois-lauzon
A7 la Bertaude
Chapouin
Marseille
Boislauzon la Jannasse
D72
D72
VILLENEUVE le Bousquet l'Origan les Citres
D907 la Gardiole la Plantade le Tord les Paluds
Cabrières
Palestor
N
Plaine
Baratin
CH MAUCOIL des Blancs
O R A N G E
B
C
Maucoil les Nonciades les Bédines
Nord le Cailloux
CLOS DU CAILLOU
Brusquières les
Ouest
Pignant
Brusquières
CH MONT-REDON les
Bois-
Cassanets
Dauphin la Guigasse
CH CABRIÈRES les Bédines
Sud
Montredon
Farguerol
Nord
D68
Cabrières
Pignan le Pied Long le
A7 le Pied
Cristia
Saint-Joseph
CH RAYAS de Baud
Valori
Beau
Farguerol
Sud
C
Dla le
Renard
Nord
Roquette
Rayas
C O U R T H É Z O N
Pignan l'Arnesque
Combes la Carrière le d'Arnavel
Pradel les Grandes
Galiguières
Pointu les
Saint-Georges
Nord
Grès le Côteau de l'Ange
Saint-
Georges
Sud
CH DE VAUDIEU
Vaudieu le
Cristia le Grand le Four à
Chaux
Pierre l'Étang
DOM DE
NALYS
Palintau les le Mourre
CHÁTEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE le Mourre de Gaud
Husson
Nord
Saintes-
Vierges des Perdrix
Combes les Terres
Blanches les
Beau le
Masques
Nord le
Bousquets
(Bosquets) la Crau
Est
Renard
Sud
Tresquoys
Nord le Grand
Devès la
Castelas
D92
Gardine
Combes
Masques
Sud la Crau
Ouest les
Charbonnières
Ouest
Saintes-Vierges
Sud
CH DE LA
GARDINE
DOM DU PEGAÜ
Bois Sénéchaux
(Sénéseau) les
D
E
DOM ROGER
Roumiguières les
Charbonnières
Est la Glacière
SABON la Font
Esqueirons
DOM DE LA CHARBONNIÈRE les
Husson
Sud
DOM RAYMOND
USSEGLIO FILS du Loup
DOM PIERRE
USSEGLIO FILS
Saummades
Sud
Chemin de
Colombis le
Courthézon le Devès
CH DE LA
Montolivet la Crau
Sud
DOM LA
BARROCHE
Parc d'Estouard
FONT DU LOUP
(Montalivet) la Font du Pape
DOM LA ROQUÈTE
D17 les les Blaquières
(Blachières) les le la Crau
Bourguignons
Cabanes
Village
DOM CHANTE CIGALE
BOSQUET DES PAPES
Barbe d'Asne la Croze
Coste Froide
CLOS DU MONT-OLIVET
Duvet la Crau Est
DOM HENRI BONNEAU
LE VIEUX DONJON
St-Joseph
LES CAILLOUX
Duvet Est
DOM DU VIEUX
TÉLÉGRAPHE le lac
Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Ouest la Solitude
Relagnes
DOM DUCLAUX la Chartreuse
Nord
DOM DE LA le Boucoup la Cerise la Petite
Crau
DOM
SOLITUDE la Crau Ouest
DOM DU GALET
ST-PRÉFERT le
Mont-Pertuis
DES PAPES les le Moulin
Pierre à Feu
Mont-de-Viès
Clos
Parrans
à Vent
CLOS DES
PAPES
Réveirores
Ouest
St-Pierre de
Font la Grenade
St-Jean
D192
Chemin de du
Luxembourg le Limas
CH FORTIA
Réveirores
Est
Châteauneuf
Loup
DOM DE BEAURENARD
E
Fla
Bigote la Fortiasse le Grand-
Plantier les la Crau les
Mascaronnes
Sud
CH LA NERTHE
Font de Michelle
Marines le Bois
DOM VERSINO le Chemin de
Sorgues de la Ville
CH DES FINES
ROCHES
Croix de
Bois le Bois
Piedles
Marron de Boursan
Redon
Guarrigues la Nerthe la Petite les Grandes
Serres Ouest
Bastide Côteau de
Saint-
Saint-Louis
Cabane de
Saint-Jean
Patouillet les Jean les Combes
St-Louis
Plagnes la Rigole
Sauvines les Escondudes les Grandes
Serres
Pigeoulet les Galimardes
D17
B É D A R R I D E S les Revès
Pied-Redon le Grand
Chemin de
Sorgues les Petites
Serres
Cansaud le Coulaire le Coulaire
Ouest
THE VARIETY OF CHATEAUNEUF-DU-PAPE
Terre Ferme
F
The most famous terroir is the plateau of La Crau, to the east of the village, with its distinctive huge pebbles (galets) but, more importantly, moist clay underneath. Wine grown on the predominantly north-facing vineyards between Mont-Redon and Orange tends to be more reserved and elegant with smoother tannins than those of wines grown on the hotter sites, which can be very concentrated, potent, and tough when young.
In the northeast around Courthézon, pebbles alternate with sand and yield particularly heady wines. Blends can brilliantly combine these styles.
Rascassa
G
DOM CHANTE-PERDRIX les Coulets
Cansaud le Bas
Serres les Serres
D66
Noffres
Plan du
Rhône
Fangueiron le Grand
Coulet la Lionne la Crousroute
S O R G U E S
Based on an original soil map created by the Fédération des Syndicats de
Producteurs de Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
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