Château Montfaucon

The history of Château de Montfaucon dates back to the 11th century when the castle's first tower was built. The castle's role in history was strategic; the Rhône River was the border between the French Kingdom and the Holy Roman German Empire. Montfaucon was one of a line of castles and fortresses along the Rhône River constructed to guard the border, and later to tax ships carrying goods up and down the River.

The castle was extended in the middle ages and gained its triangular shape. It was owned by the powerful Laudun family. In 1420 the King of France gave the title of Baron to Montfaucon.

The first eleven towns forming La Côte du Rhône (including Montfaucon) on the right bank of the Rhône decide to protect the quality of their wine by forbidding grapes from outside the towns to enter the blends. In 1737 the King's Council orders the wine barrels from Côte du Rhône to be marked with letters C.D.R. This can be considered as the first appellation.

The castle was damaged during the religious wars in the 16th century. The de Pertuis family, our ancestors, had come to Avignon from Piemonte in Italy following the Popes. They acquired the Chateau de Montfaucon in 1766. Thus Joseph Gabriel de Pertuis became the Baron de Montfaucon.

Joseph Gabriel's son, Eugene, served as Mayor of Avignon and member of the parliament from 1826 to 1830. He married a Scottish lady, Agatha Clavering. They had a son named Louis, Baron Louis de Montfaucon, and a daughter, Wilhelmine.

In fact Baron Louis and his father were also amateurs of wine, selling their wine in Paris. We found old labels from their time, 1829 "Vin de Monsieur le Baron de Montfaucon", which inspired us to create our special cuvee made from the 15 grape varietals of the estate.

It was Baron Louis who realised the restoration and expansion of the castle in 1880s. The castle's new façade is reminiscent of the Scottish style, an influence from his mother. The castle kept its triangular shape, which makes it the only remaining triangular castle inhabited today. The Baron Louis dies in 1910. He left the Château and the estate to his young niece Madeleine since he never married or had children. On her marriage Madeleine becomes Comtesse de Pins.

From 1936 to 1995 the family continued to cultivate the vines but sold the grapes to a co-operative. This has allowed us to inherit beautiful old vines of Grenache, Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise that are up to 90 years old.

Following his agriculture studies in France and California (UC Davis), Rodolphe de Pins makes wine at the renowned estates of Henschke in Barossa and Vieux Telegraphe in Châteauneuf du Pape. He takes over Montfaucon estate in 1995. He rebuilds the winery and makes his first vintage in Montfaucon in 1995.

Since 1995 the estate has expanded to will extend over 60 hectares of vines. The latest acquisition was seven hectares of Cru Lirac including a plot of old Clairette vines aged of 140 years.

The range includes 9 cuvées which are commercialised in over 20 different countries.

The winery is built at the bottom of the chateau. We still have the old vaulted cellar from the XVIth century where wine was made until 1936. Nowadays, this old cellar is used for barrel aging.

Montfaucon is located opposite to Châteauneuf-du-Pape, just across the Rhône River. Our vineyards are spread out between Montfaucon and the two neighbouring towns, Roquemaure and St Genies de Comolas.

The original 18 hectares (1995) of vineyards have grown to 45 hectares by planting new vineyards and by buying old ones. Our vines are up to 90 years old with an average age of 40 years. All the vineyards are farmed at low yields (between 25 to 42 hl/ha).

One of the strengths of Montfaucon is the diversity of soils and exposure (mainly calcareous pebbelstone on silty sandy soil, soil with clay and sandy soil) combined with a large selection of Rhône grape varieties (Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Counoise, Viognier, Marsanne, Clairette, Bourboulenc, Picpoul). This diversity is an essential component of the quality, and helps gain an insight into the complexity of Montfaucon wines.

Two millennia of wine history in the Southern Rhône Valley has naturally created a selection of grape varietals well adapted to the region and its terroir: soil, landscape and climate. I am very attached to the idea that we must conserve this natural heritage that is a true asset to our region. This evolution leads to well balanced and harmonious wines with a true identity of Rhône.

"I have a natural approach to viticulture and to winemaking; the grape is a fruit, thus the final product should always express the flavours of the fruit. We follow the principals of sustainable agriculture, but in essence our work is organic agriculture: no insecticides are applied and we only use natural fertilizers (blend of sheep manure and marc compost). We leave the native grasses to grow on the vineyards and control its growth by mowing regularly and ploughing when needed (if the season is too dry). This is a way to keep the soil as whole as possible and to maintain our low yields." – Rodolphe de Pins

"The spirit I search for in Montfaucon wines is elegance and finesse. I like wines that are complex, but also enjoyable and easy to drink; like the wines of Burgundy, but working with the Southern Rhône varietals and climate. All my work is to find harmony and balance in the wine. From the vineyards to the cellar we work delicately and with maximum care to preserve the quality and purity of the fruit: We only pick the grapes by hand. In order to enhance the balance of the wine, we co-ferment up to five varieties in the same tank. This increases the exchange and integration of different grapes during the important fermentation time. By controlling temperature and time on skins, typically 8 to 14 days, I am looking to extract only soft and silky tannins. The elevage is quite simple: The wines are aged in concrete tanks and French oak barrels depending on the wine. Again, following in my philosophy of respecting the fruit, I only use barrels from one wine to six wines. The white wines are aged a maximum of 8 months and the red wines 18 months before bottling. You will find a lot of freshness in Montfaucon wines. That is certainly a result of blending early maturation grapes with late maturing varieties that have higher natural acidity." – Rodolphe de Pins