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History

Located in the commune of Meyreuil and just four kilometres from Aix en Provence, the old bastide of the Grands Carmes d'Aix monks, now the Chateau Simone, has been in the hands of the Rougier family since 1830. Old documents bear witness to the fact that vines have been cultivated here from time immemorial. The historic reputation of its wines has made Chateau Simone a prime example of the Provencal terroir. Their renown spread and the bottles, with the elegant classical presentation on the original label, found their way to the most prestigious tables and those of the finest gourmets.

The elegant silhouette of the chateau stands between two majestic yew trees against a background of wooded hills before the Sainte Victoire mountain, so dear to Cézanne.

It is firmly established on a vast terrace overlooking the oldest parts of the vineyard with a fountain by the famous Marseille sculptor, Jules Cantini, and a large flight of steps leading to the grounds.

The gardens of the estate are tastefully landscaped with a variety of shrubs and greenery arranged around a pond, forming a link with the vineyard that rolls down to the banks of the Arc in a series of successive terraces.

The cellars of Chateau Simone were dug out in the 16th century by the Grands Carmes d'Aix, a religious order.

They consist of several remarkably authentic galleries on different levels and were later enlarged by successive generations of the Rougier family. Their homogeneous temperatures and natural humidity make them particularly suitable for storing and aging wines.

The silence, the darkness, and the neatly arranged ranks of barrels and casks all contribute to the magical processes taking place in the precious nectar.

 

Tribute to Jean Rougier

As the representative of the fourth generation of Rougiers on the domain, he played a leading role in the decisive period when the grand historic terroirs of Vins de France acquired the AOC status.

As a relentless and tireless worker, he identified with this vineyard that the previous generation had reconstituted after the phylloxera crisis. He had a firm grasp of its exceptional character and embellished and enlarged it. As a poet and musician and a disciple of Fréderic Mistral, he mastered all the delicate nuances of the Provençal language and gave full expression to his personality as a wine grower in a series of vintages in remarkable bottles.

In 1947 he applied for the "Chateau Simone" AOC and on 28 April 1948 he obtained the AOC for the Palette terroir.

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Vineyards

The location on the north-facing slopes of the Montaiguet massif in a natural bowl-shaped formation protected from the winds and crossed by the Arc river give it a special microclimate.

It is influenced by the biodiversity of the nearby forest, the humidity coming from the river with its mass of greenery, its exposure and the fact that the force of the winds is broken.

The soil consists essentially of limestone scree formed in lakes in the Tertiary Era combined with clays, pebbles and gravel.

The vineyard forms a mosaic of plots surrounded by trees.

The Rougier family reconstituted the vineyard in the wake of the phylloxera crisis. It has an exceptional average age, with some plots more than 110 years old! Missing vines have always been rigorously replaced.

It contains a wide selection of different grape varieties. The vines are trained in goblet formation and espaliered on stakes. They are cultivated without chemical fertilizers or weedkillers.

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Winemaking

The grapes are harvested and sorted manually. They are then transported to the cellar in small 40-kg bins. They are sorted a second time before being crushed. The fermentation processes are classic and traditional, using native yeasts. Every effort is made to preserve the integrity and structure of the crop.

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