DOMAINE DE VILLENEUVE
Domaine de Villeneuve was sold in 1993 to Philippe du Roy de Blicquy and Stanislas Wallut, who in 2003 became the sole owner of the estate. Located on very old vines in the extreme north of the appellation Châteauneuf-du-Pape, it sits on three different soils and covers more than 12 ha. Scratching is practiced from pebble soils to clay soils through sandy soils to aerate the earth. Grassing is practiced to compete with the vigour of the vine.
No chemical weeding or treatment based on synthetic molecules. Only under-dosed sulfur and copper treatments, using a proprietary process and the application of preparations used in biodynamic agriculture. The vineyard has been certified in Bio and Biodynamics since 1998 by Ecocert and Biodyvin.
For Stanislas Wallut the health of the plant and therefore of the vine depends on reconstitution of its immune defences. It is the inner energy of the plant that creates a barrier to diseases and viruses and not “medicine” that merely provides a temporary fix.
The cellar is completely buried on two levels more than six meters underground with blocks of stone from the Gard to aerate the cellar and naturally regulate temperature and humidity. Stanislas recently acquired “concrete eggs” (ovoid shaped vats) that allows the juice to ferment in a perpetual movement, producing thinner and more mineral wines.
Very careful about the quality of the grapes, they are emptied from the bucket by gravitation, either wholebunch, or crushed, or stalked according to the choice of Stanislas. The pre and post-fermentations vary between 20 and 40 days in large volume tanks (80 hectos for fermentation and 50 hectos for aging) to allow good blending. During pigeage the marc hat is broken so that it is drowned in the must and the extraction of the polyphenols is the best possible.
The estate makes two cuvées ; the plots are located around an old path that also separates the Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Côtes-du-Rhône appellations.
