Château Saint-Roch, Rhône, France

CHÂTEAU SAINT-ROCH; BRUNÈL'S WINE ESTATE.

Jean-Jacques Verda sold his Château to Eve Brunèl of the famous Château de la Gardine. Eve Brunel is the wife of one of the sons of renowned winemaker Gaston Brunel. The Brunel family 's winemaking tradition dates back to the 17th century. In 1998, the Brunel family bought a considerable piece of vineyard around the Château Saint Roch in the 'Roquemaure' area, Château de La Gardine, of 40 hectares. Saint Roch is fully managed by oenologist Eve, in addition she also partly runs La Gardine. The total 40 hectares of vineyard are now owned by the Brunel brothers in the Rhône. The wine region Vallée du Rhône is approximately 200 kilometers long. The wine growing along the banks of the Rhône between Vienne and Avignon is more than two thousand years old. The Rhône Valley has traditionally been an excellent connecting route. Early on, the winegrowers chose the collective name Côtes du Rhône. This choice was very important for the brand recognition and for the awarding of the AOP Côtes du Rhône in 1937. Since then, the Rhône region has grown into the second French AOP wine region. Brunel is an unmistakable winemaking family in the Rhône.

LOVE FOR LIRAC

Lirac, located on the right bank of the Rhône , obtained its appellation in 1947. The municipality belongs to the crus of the southern Rhône Valley. The appellation applies to both red, rosé and white, with approximately 50 producers. The red wines are predominantly supple, spicy and fairly refined in character, with a generally reasonable price tag. The special terroir , a combination of hardened limestone (Lirac) and red clay soil with sand (Côtes du Rhône), the Mediterranean climate, together with the fairly old vines of 33 years, produce characterful wines. A supple tannin structure , spicy and concentrated taste and a refined character are the general characteristics of these wines.

TABLE-DE-TRI(L)

The harvest is completely manual in 30 kilo bins. With the help of a ' table-de-tri ' a strict selection of the grapes takes place before they go into the wine cellar. A 'table-de-tri' is a selection table on which the grapes are sorted manually . Sometimes the table also vibrates to spread the grapes apart.

OUR WINES FROM CHATEAU SAINT ROCH

We carry from Saint-Roch in addition to the Lirac Rouge, made from mainly Grenache supplemented with Mourvèdre and Syrah , of course also the white Lirac. This beautiful Rhône wine is made of 50% Grenache Blanc, 30% Clairette, 10% Roussanne and 10% Viognier. The green hints combined with lively aromas make this wine beautifully balanced. In addition to these wines, we also carry a third cuvée, which is made from the best vineyard plots of very old vines; the Cuvée Cofindentielle.