Rhône Valley · France

Domaine Grand Veneur

The Jaume family has worked the vines of Châteauneuf-du-Pape since 1826, when Mathieu Jaume first planted there; Marius, Fernand and Roger Jaume carried the work forward over the following generations. In 1979 Alain and his wife Odile founded Domaine Grand Veneur with 9 hectares, building their cellars just outside Orange on the road to Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and Alain now runs the business with his sons Sébastien and Christophe. The estate sits in the northern part of the appellation, on Miocene marine molasse covered with Alpine alluvium and the rounded 'galets' stones left by the ancient Rhône, plus the north-facing clay-sand and limestone plot of La Fontaine that yields its celebrated whites. Just across a gravel path from the Châteauneuf boundary lies Les Champauvins, a 34-hectare Côtes du Rhône vineyard often treated as a 'baby Châteauneuf'. In 2003 the family added Domaine du Clos de Sixte in Lirac, across the river, where similar galet-strewn plateaus have been farmed organically since 2009, and in 2013 they took on Château Mazane, an 11-hectare single block of 50-year-old vines in Vacqueyras beneath the Dentelles de Montmirail. Grand Veneur, Clos de Sixte and Château Mazane are all cultivated under organic protocols, with soils worked only by shallow ploughing, plant composts, hand leaf-thinning and hand-sorted fruit, and the wines are bottled with minimal fining. The family's stated aim is intense, balanced wines that show their terroir and reward cellaring.

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