Since 1980, Domaine de Beaurenard, property of the Coulon family, has also been cultivating a vineyard on stepped hillsides in the Rasteau appellation. On these sharp terroirs surrounded by vast swathes of woodland and garrigue, biodynamic farming reveals its full expression.
The vintageThe 2022 vintage is very much in line with the superb, luminous vintages that we experienced in 2017 and 2019. The abundant rain that fell in the autumn of 2021, replenishing the groundwater reserves, was an essential element of its success.
The winter was quite dry, and a strong Mistral wind in the first days of April prevented new episodes of frost. It set the rhythm for what turned out to be a dry and relatively mild winter, with less than 50mm of rainfall between March and May.
The summer was characterized by extreme drought, with temperatures that were certainly high, but not excessive, notably thanks to the cool nights. Thanks to their deep rooting systems, structured soils, and cover crops that limited the amount of evapotranspiration from the soil, the vines were able to continue their growing cycle without incident to produce grapes at perfect maturity.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape was also touched by three heavy hailstorms, on June 5 and 24 and again on August 14, that swept across certain sectors of the appellation causing limited damage to the west-facing parts of some of our parcels.
The damage caused by the brutal storm of August 14, particularly worrying given the proximity to the harvest, was fortunately restricted to certain areas, and immediately attenuated by the drying effect of the Mistral which began blowing following day. This kept the grapes healthy, warding off the development of rot and starting the healing process for the wood, essential for next year’s vintage.
With hindsight we can see that the way we manage our vineyards - with plant infusions, high density planting, choice of orientation of the rows, no trimming, and use of cover crops, etc., - was once again invaluable in attaining optimum ripeness and the purest expression of our terroirs.
Harvesting took place in good conditions between August 26 and October 6.
Selection of the best plots, all on hillsides, benches and steep terraces, characterized by a marvelous terroir of "gray to gray-blue marl from the Tortonian (Middle Miocene)", blue clays, which are called locally this wine a lot of depth and minerality. Yields are low since they are 25hl/Ha. The grape varieties adapted to the terroir chosen to produce this Rasteau: 80% Grenache, 20% Syrah.
In the vineyardThe grapes are hand-picked and sorted in the vineyard.
WinemakingDestemming and long vatting -25 to 28 days-, indigenous yeasts, in order to take advantage of the concentration obtained in the vineyard, of its minerality and always with a view to refining the extracted tannins as much as possible. The blue clays always giving denser tannins, the ripening continues during the aging in small oak casks for 15 months, which brings finesse and elegance. Bottling without filtration is carried out with care at the Domaine.
AgeingThe blue clays always giving denser tannins, the ripening continues during the aging in small oak tuns for 15 months, which brings finesse and elegance. Bottling without filtration is carried out with care at the Domaine.
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