One journey with the plural wines from Alain Jaume, settled in the fancy Rhône Valley!

After many prior appellations, you are glad to immerse ourselves this time into the wines developed in the Rhône Valley. A wide wine region organized around a distance 250km following this Rhône river, which totally counts 813km.

 

 

 

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Let’s get into the South with the Domaine Alain Jaume which is closely connected to the Châteauneuf du Pape appellation. In the 14th century, when the Popes were established in Avignon, they built the pontifical castle at Châteauneuf du Pape.  The making of wine being closely linked to the church, the Popes became aware of the immense quality of the terroir for the cultivation of vines.  This is how they decided to develop the vineyard that surrounded their home (photo credits: Alain Jaume).

Indeed, the Jaume family continues a long tradition of winemaking and the local archives have already been mentioning the Jaume family as settled farmers since 1826, in the northern part of Châteauneuf du Pape. Since then, the family’s estate has continued to expand to produce more and more wines, from the south of the Rhône Valley. Starting by the creation in 1979 of the Domaine Grand Veneur (starring the Châteauneuf du Pape and the Côtes du Rhône appellations) and the acquisition of the Clos de Sixte vineyard (including the Lirac appellation) in 2003. In another hand, the Alain Jaume estate, which is nowadays managed by the descendants of the family, Sébastien and Christophe, is as well made up of two other distinct estates. In fact, you could find the Château Mazane, adorned with the Vacqueyras appellation and the Domaine la Grangette Saint Joseph, which is also a Côtes-du-Rhône appellation.

 

In this area where millions of years ago, the Rhône river built the basement of the left and right banks by depositing sandy clays and the famous rolled pebbles, the vineyard of Alain Jaume is managed with the greatest respect as possible for the terroir. Therefore, its soils are enriched with natural composts and maintained by shallow plowing, while yields are intentionally lower than expected in order to preserve the surrounding soils, thanks to manual harvesting and sorting. The homemade philosophy would be that nobody could produce quality wines without cultivating its vines in such a way as to allow them to produce healthy and balanced grapes. This commitment may also be illustrated by letting the forces of their unique heritage, the Earth express themselves

In addition, those respectful cultivation methods of the environment and the majority of wines (which are Domaines Grand Veneur, Clos de Sixte and Chateau Mazane) have been labeled “AB – Organic Agriculture” since the 2012 vintage, while continuing the intense oenological and viticultural work on their 78ha of surface.

 

 

 

We are glad to introduce you here their Bellissime 2019 vintage, which is a Rosé wine, composed of a good choice of grape varieties, which are Grenache noir, Syrah and Mourvèdre. In fact, this elegant salmon pink colored 2020 Rosé can be obtained from a direct bleeding pressing, vinified in stainless steel vats and at low temperature. 

 

After opening the bottle (which was ready 5 months after harvest), you could easily smell the fruity and spicy olfactory aspects from this reminiscent juice of wild strawberries, raspberries and fine Provence accents. Thereafter, its taste would stay naturally fruity, with a fresh and long finish, rather to be served at 8°C before 2023.