We had a tour and tasting at this Château, and it was the highlight of our visit to…read moreChâteauneuf-du-Pape.
We began on the front porch of the Château, which overlooks the Rhone valley. To the left we could see the Pope's Château that gave the region its name. Straight ahead, the winding Rhone river glimmered in the morning sun. And to the right we saw another castle, Chateau de Lercs, the former summer home of the pope before he moved up the mountain.
Movad grapes grow in the limestone hills surrounding the Château. Just beside the house, the soil is sandy with some rock, so it's planted with syrah. White grapes flourish in the more sandy soil.
This family has 40 hectares in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, only red and white grapes. The Château de la Gardine Home and winery is halfway between the two Pope's castles, and is called Gardine because it was the original guard tower the Romans built to guard the village. The house was built in the 18th century around the tower, and was owned my the abbey of Avignon until Gaston Brunelle bought the home and vineyard after World War II. Gaston was an ambitious and knowledgeable marketer, and in 1950 he became the first Châteauneuf de Pape winemaker to export to the United States.
Today, Canada and Europe is big for Chateau de la Gardine, and half of their sales are to high end restaurants in France.Their total production is 180,000 bottles from their 54 hectares of vineyards. This is a relatively Low production per hectare because the vines are an average of 50 years old. As lovers of fine wines know, this results in less fruit, more concentration, and a bold and complex wine when the vinyeron is skilled.
On the day we visited, the Chateau was bottling wine. Their own special bottle shape is not perfectly round, so it needs special handling. The chateau's bottling machine handles only 3000 bottles per hour, which is slower than most. Chateau de la Gardine Bottles were handmade until the 1950s. Today they are made with a mold, and they change it every 5 years to prevent forgeries.
First we tasted the Château St roche cotes du Rhone. This rich table wine has a cherry flavor with sour finish. Guillame shared with us that he is playing a part in growing a new appellation, Rasteau, which was classified as a cru in 2010. The Rasteau is from a higher area on the mountains and is fermented in only concrete tanks with 75 percent grenache and 25 percent Syrah. It has a lot of fruit expression and a fresh, spicy flavor with minerality on the finisher.
Named after the first Brunel owner of the Chateau de la Gardine, Gaston Philippe their highest end wine. It is aged in large wood vats then in new oak. We absolutely loved this wine and brought home several bottles to share with friends and family. This chateau is just beautiful and I highly recommend a visit!