Robe — Deep garnet, nearly black, warming to brick with age
kirsch
garrigue
black pepper
leather
warm stone
Palate
Full, warm and enveloping; Grenache's silk over fourteen degrees and more
Ageing
8–25 years
Serving
16–18 °C
When the popes moved to Avignon, John XXII raised a summer castle above the Rhône and had its slopes planted; the papal name stayed. The vineyard's floor of galets roulés — quartzite pebbles rolled smooth by the ancient river — hoards the day's heat against the night, ripening Grenache to its dark, peppery amplitude.
Here, in 1923, Baron Le Roy and the growers wrote rules for themselves — delimited land, permitted varieties, minimum ripeness — that became the template for the French appellation system and, in 1936, one of the very first AOCs. Thirteen varieties are allowed; Grenache leads, Syrah and Mourvèdre deepen.