Châteauneuf du Pape is a beautiful village and wine appellation in the southern part of the Rhône Valley, France. Situated near Avignon, a walled city that is built around the historical Pope’s Palace, Châteauneuf du Pape is where the Pope would go for summer holidays.
Mont-Redon have been in the area since 1842, with the oldest vines found at Mont-Redon dating back to Roman times. Mont-Redon is not only one of the oldest producers in the Rhône, they are also the largest in Châteauneuf du Pape with 165 hectares of land to their name, 100 hectares of which are planted with vines.
The winery today has Pierre Fabre at the helm, the fourth generation of the family. Pierre is first and foremost a wine guy. He loves wine and will spend hours talking with you about wine from around the world. It is under his stewardship that Mont-Redon has headed in a qualitative direction which sees them release for the first time this year a flagship Châteauneuf du Pape.
Alongside this, Pierre has also taken the winery on an environmental change. They have built their own purifying station and all waste (from the vineyards, the cellar and the Château itself) is treated biologically before being drained on a bed of reeds. Château Mont-Redon was one of the first domaines to both treat its waste and recycle. There is natural air conditioning through the underground cellars, using a passage that their grandfather had created to drain water from the plateau to feed the wells. They have extended it and connected it with the open air, the draught then naturally cooling the cellars to a constant 11C.
We have recently landed the 2016 Châteauneuf du Pape from Mont-Redon. 2016 was an excellent vintage, similar in quality to the 2017. The 2017, though, is more vibrant and fresher, the 2016 more concentrated. The blend is 60% grenache, 30% syrah, 8% mourvèdre and 2% other varieties (Mont-Redon are one of only two producers in the Rhône to vinify all the permitted varieties). The grapes come from their three terroirs – the pebbles, the sand and the chalk.
From this year, the selection process at Mont-Redon is strict and very particular. After malolactic fermentation, they separated out the weakest batches and put them into a parcel destined to be sold as bulk Châteauneuf du Pape.
After racking, they then identified the parcels that were still not good enough and moved them into the bulk pile. Then they moved to the side the parcels that were too different, that were not going to make a harmonious blend. This process resulted in only 50% of the 2016 harvest making it into the Mont-Redon Châteauneuf du Pape. The balance was sold off and will be in someone else’s Châteauneuf du Pape, as it just simply was not good enough for Mont-Redon.
The 2016 vintage also marks the introduction of Châteauneuf du Pape Le Plateau. This is made from grapes only grown on the plateau where the pebbles are. It is 100% destemmed and optically sorted (like Château Mont-Redon), with extraction by pigéage. 70% was aged in new barrels and the balance in one and two-year-old barrels for about 18 months. The inaugural Le Plateau is 40% syrah and 60% grenache. The grape varieties in Le Plateau may vary from year to year, but the source of the grapes, from the historical plateau, won’t.
We have had the Mont-Redon 2016 Château and Le Plateau arrive recently, both exceptional wines. (LIZ WHEADON)