Chateau Neuf du Pape
Chateau Neuf du Pape would have to be one of the famous vineyard areas in France – and we were off the ship at Avignon for a visit and tasting.
The young man who conducted the tour dazzled us with data about terroir (soil, climate, human interference) and things called Cru. Me, I’m a philistine. If it tastes reasonable, I’ll drink it. But it was interesting to learn about the fields. It’s rocky around here, with limestone escarpments everywhere. And the fields are full of river rocks, brought down here with water from the Alps. The rocks make the ground very porous – which is important because of the low rainfall. Grape vines are forced to delve deep for moisture – they are not irrigated. The rocks also heat up during the day and retain that heat to keep the roots warm during the cold nights.
Then there’s the Mistral, the famous South of France wind. We got a blast of that for the last days of our trip. It blew at up to 60km per hours, quite enough to blow elderly tourists off their feet. Our driver took us to the hill where the remains of the Avignon pope’s summer palace stood above the little town of Chateau Neuf du Pape. It was destroyed by the Germans at the end of WW2. Such a shame.
That wind cut like a knife, reducing 6 degrees to ‘feels like -5’. I had to brace myself to take the photo at the top of the page.
But… it seems the vignerons around here are not beholden to bees and other insects. The Mistral does the pollination for them.
We took a slow walk down through the little village. It’s absolutely charming, built of the same limestone that shapes the land. We were told the town is home to 2,000 residents and 320 of them work in the wine industry.
And then we went for a tasting. A lovely young woman conducted the show, explaining how to hold the glass and what to look for before sipping. (Interesting how it’s always pleasant young women presiding over wine tastings.)
We tasted one white wine – not much white wine is made in this area. The terroir lends itself to reds – dry climate, lots of sun. Like the Barossa. We were given a tasting list and served a couple of mouthfuls of #1 (white) then #4, #14, #8.
I wasn’t blown away (by the wine anyway). I found them all to be thin and too dry. Of course, the most expensive was the nicest – 75 euros a bottle. An American couple said they preferred their Californian wines – and I preferred our Australian wines. But I’m not a connoisseur.
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If you’ve missed any of the posts for this trip, go here. Europe 2026
