Clos des Papes - Châteauneuf-du-Pape Paul April 2015 - Magnum

The domain

Paul Vincent Avril, one of the best winegrowers of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Le Clos des Papes is made up of 40 hectares divided into 24 very distinct plots. This division makes it possible to control the maturity of the berries well at harvest time and to combine several grape varieties (65% Grenache, 20% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah, 5% Counoise, Vaccarèse and Muscardin for the reds) and different terroirs.

Yields are around 28 hl per hectare, sometimes falling below 15 like in 2013! With in addition a strict sorting of the harvest in a perpetual concern for quality. Aged in oak casks for 12 to 15 months depending on the vintage, the wines are traditionally fined with egg white but not filtered.

There Avril family has been living in Châteauneuf-du-Pape since 1600 and the first vintage of Clos des Papes is 1896. It is signed by the great-grandfather of the current owner, Paul Avril. The latter greatly contributed to the creation of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape Appellation by bringing together a commission at the town hall of the village in 1911 to establish the bases of the Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée which was born in 1936. Régis Avril, his son, continued his father's work by continuing to export Clos des Papes (75% of production goes to 25 countries!), and by serving it in particular at the Elysée Palace to General de Gaulle and then under Pompidou.

His son, Paul, who entered the estate at the age of 26, was able to perpetuate the tradition of quality to gradually hand over the estate to his own son, Paul-Vincent, from 1988. For more than 20 years, he has continued in the same path, that of tradition and the production of great wines for laying down of irreproachable quality. He did not give in to the temptations of parcel selection to produce a few "garage wines", offering only one quality of red (90% of the production of Clos des Papes, the remaining 10% being white). This courageous choice makes each bottle of Clos des Papes unique, coming from an exceptional and harmonious blend of complementary grape varieties and terroirs.