Domaine Barville is Laurent Brotte’s historic family estate bearing the name of the ancestors whose surname was Barville. The 26,5 hectares of vineyards are located west of the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, overlooking the river Rhône, with Avignon sitting on the horizon. It is made up of 7 plots of vines in two of the AOC’s oldest and finest terroirs (red clay and pebbles in the “Pradel” lieu-dit, and fragmented limestone in the “Beaurenard” lieu-dit).
Located at an altitude of 100 metres, the vines, which are 45 years old on average, overlook the river Rhône and enjoy the health benefits provided by the Mistral wind. The Mistral dries the vines after the rain and, in doing so, contributes to the ripening of the grapes. The very hot climate and good exposure also facilitate the ripening and concentration of the grapes.
Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre and Roussanne all thrive on our land.
Domaine Barville red
Here the fragmented limestone reflects and accentuates the heat that is typical of the AOC thus facilitating the ripening of the Grenache, the majority varietal in our wine. Our yield of 31 hl/ha, which is very carefully controlled and lower than that of the AOC (35 hl/ha), is conducive to the concentration of the grapes.
The sustainably-worked soils are ploughed during the year. The green work (disbudding, leaf thinning, green pruning) is very thorough in order to reduce the yields and thereby improve the quality. The hand-harvested grapes are transported quickly in small containers to prevent them from crushing too soon and oxidising. At the winery, they are completely destemmed, crushed and fermented at 28°C, which is then followed by a 3-week maceration. The more tannic Syrah, Mourvèdre and Grenache wines are aged in French oak barrels (1/3 new, 1/3 previously used for one fill, 1/3 for two fills) and the softer Grenache is aged in concrete tanks, amphorae and 100-year-old oak foudres in order to preserve the fruit. The wine is bottled in April after more than a year of ageing and a light filtration.
Our wine typically possesses power, maturity and a silky mouthfeel
Domaine Barville white 100% Roussanne
Our Roussanne thrives on a 0.65-hectare plot. The manual harvesting of the fully ripe grapes very early in the morning and the 8 months of ageing on the lees have resulted in a wine with great complexity and lovely fat.
