Cellier des Princes

Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a French wine Appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) located around the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the Rhône wine region in southeastern France.

The future AOC system was initiated in 1923 in Châteauneuf-du-Pape for the 1st time. It was actually created by the Baron Pierre Le Roy de Boseaumarié with the organisation in charge of establishing and controlling the Protected Designation of Châteauneuf du Pape.

On 15 May 1936, French President Albert Lebrun signed the decrees of the first AOC in France, Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Pearched on a 120 meters high hill, Châteauneuf-du-Pape stands proud and erects in the heart of the plain of Comtat Venaissin. The village is located halfway between the two prestigious cities of Orange and Avignon, in the Vaucluse department. The nearby left bank of the Rhône river is a reminiscent of its common History with the local vineyard.

Thousands of years ago, the inland seas of the secondary and tertiary eras successively formed different sediment layers from which stems the subsoil of the existing vineyard. Due to the glaciation of the quaternary era, the Rhône river became extremely powerful to such an extent that it smashed everything in its path such as rocks coming from the mountain sides of the French Alps. Those stones eroded over the time and deposited in calmer places of the river as in Châteauneuf du Pape.

The characteristic terroir of Châteauneuf-du-Pape comes from a layer of stones called galets roulés ("round pebbles"). The large pebbles contribute to the quality of the vines and grapes by storing heat during the day and holding water.The stones release the heat at night which helps to obtain an optimal ripeness.

In 1305 Clement V became the new Pope but he declined to move to Rome, remaining in France, and in 1309, he moved his court to the papal enclave at Avignon where Châteauneuf du Pape started to get a world exposure.

Under the papacy of Clement VI, in 1344, was registered the first Terroir of Châteauneuf du Pape.

The vineyards includes today 3200 hectares of vines spread on 5 Villages : Châteauneuf du Pape, Courthézon, Bédarrides, Orange and Sorgues.