Chateau de Beaucastel

Château de Beaucastel

Already in 1549, Pierre de Beaucastel bought some land plus a barn and began his agricultural business. The first mention of vines planted on the property however was in the 1830’s.

In 1909, the domaine was bought by Pierre Tramier and after him his son-in-law Pierre Perrin ran the business. After Pierre Perrin, Jacques Perrin took over and especially this man put Château de Beaucastel firmly on the map.

Jacques Perrin, considered by many as one of the most briljant wine-makers in the Rhône Valley, believed in three principles:

1) The wine should be made in a natural way.

2) The percentage of the (red) Mourvèdre grape in the blend must be substantial  

3) The wine’s character and personality could not be compromised by concessions to modern technology.

Jacques Perrin died in 1978, but his two sons, François and Jean-Pierre took over his philosophy. The Perrin Family still own Château de Beaucastel. It is remarkable that Château de Beaucastel have all the 13 permitted grape varieties planted in their vineyards.

For the red wine the blend is usually 30% Grenache, 30% Mourvèdre, 10% Syrah, 5% Cinsault and the rest Counoise, Muscardin and Vaccarèse, but this may change according to the vintage.

For the white wine it is 80% Roussanne and the rest Bourboulenc, Clairette and Grenache Blanc. In 1989 a special red cuvée was introduced as a honour to their father: “Hommage á Jacques Perrin”. It is a super-concentrated blend of Mourvèdre (80%!), Grenache, Syrah and Counoise and is bottled much later than the “regular” Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This particular wine received regularly the perfect score and is only bottled in exceptional years such as 1989, 1990, 1998, 2007 and 2010.

A total of 19 vintages have been produced until now. There is also white Châteauneuf-du-Pape “Roussanne Vieilles Vignes” which is made from 100% Roussanne grapes from almost 85-year-old vines. Both the “Hommage á Jacques Perrin” and the “Roussanne Vieilles Vignes” are quite rare with an average production of 300 -450 cases.