Domaine de L'Harmas Châteauneuf du Pape
Patrick and Nathalie Fabre took over the family vineyards from Nathalie's father Felicien in 2000. Previously, the grapes had been sold to the local coop, but with three hectares of vines in Chateauneuf sitting adjacent to Beaucastel and 2.5 hectares of old-vine Cotes du Rhone plantings, the couple rightly decided to make their own wine.
With plantings that average about 50 years old, Patrick and Nathalie manually dry-farm their vines, which are located in the northern terroirs of Chateauneuf du Pape, near Orange and Courthezon.
The Cotes du Rhone is made very traditionally which is to say that the grapes are not de-stemmed, are co-fermented and spend about 20 days in cement cuves before racking into used oak barrels. The wine is bottled unfiltered and the yields are very low for a CDR at 40 hl/ha.
The Chateauneuf du Papes are partially de-stemmed and the soak and fermentation are extended to anywhere from 22 to 25 days. The juice is punched down manually twice daily before racking into used oak barrels. The Reserve de Felicien is a wine made entirely from a single plot of Grenache planted by Nathalie's father in 1927. Fewer than 100 cases are made only in the best years.
