Walls: Vertical tasting of Château Mont-Redon 1961-2022

As I drove into a small hamlet just north of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, I wondered which building was Château Mont-Redon. It quickly became clear that the hamlet was Château Mont-Redon.

The average Châteauneuf estate has 10 hectares of vines and a small, functional winery. Mont-Redon has its own petrol station and full-time mechanic to service its fleet of tractors. It’s big enough to have a library of older vintages going back decades. I paid a visit to find out if its reputation for exceptionally long-lived wines is merited.

Scroll down to see tasting notes and scores for 28 wines tasted across six decades

A Châteauneuf whale

I toured the grounds with the current owner, Pierre Fabre. There are 40 permanent staff, and they can house a further 60 seasonal workers here. ‘It’s a small town,’ said Fabre, ‘the only things we don’t have are a church and a bakery!’

The Fabre family celebrated 100 years at Mont-Redon last year, but the estate’s roots go back much further. In 1344, these vineyards were owned and farmed by the church. They were later purchased by Provençal poet Anselme Mathieu (1828-1895), and, after the area was devastated by phylloxera, the estate was bought by Fabre’s great-grandfather Henri Plantin in 1923.

When Plantin bought the estate, the vineyard area had dwindled to just 2.5ha. Today, Mont-Redon is the second-largest estate in the appellation with 95.7ha of vines (the largest is Vignobles Quiot with 98ha; the third is Vignobles Brunier with 95.6ha).

A monumental block

Fabre and I climbed to the top of a viewing platform at the edge of the winery. We surveyed a vast regiment of woody vines standing to attention on an endless sea of parchment-coloured stones.

For a large Châteauneuf estate, to own one continuous block of vines is rare; most have small parcels dotted all over. Fabre says it’s easier to cultivate like this, but if there’s a localised hailstorm your whole harvest can be wiped out in an instant. ‘What would be less good,’ he says, ‘is having one block with all the same soil.’

The view behind us stretches across bleached limestone and yellow sands interspersed with woodland. The estate’s Châteauneuf is a blend of all three soils.

Most of the appellation’s permitted grapes are grown here, with 60% of the land planted with Grenache, and an unusually high proportion of Syrah, at 31%. Fabre finds it performs well on the sandier soils, giving fresh aromatics, red fruit flavours and soft but grippy tannins. He also grows Mourvèdre, Cinsault and Muscardin. Experiments with Vaccarèse have been promising, but he finds Counoise too dilute.

A more successful experiment has been with the ‘Bakus’ driverless electric tractors, made by French company Vitibot. Fabre says Mont-Redon is the first estate in the Rhône to use them, and that they complete tasks twice as fast as those with drivers.

Château Mont-Redon’s Châteauneuf-du-Pape:

Grapes: A blend of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Counoise, Muscardin, Vaccarèse

Soils: Galets roulés, sand and limestone

Harvest: Hand-picked and sorted, all destemmed

Winemaking: Natural yeasts used where alcohol levels allow. Punching down at the start of fermentation only.

Ageing: Matured 50% in stainless steel tank, 35% in 228-litre barrels (one quarter new) and 15% in large old foudres for about 12 months. Further 6 months maturation after bottling

Production: Average production between 200,000 and 220,000 bottles

Any lots that aren’t satisfactory after tasting are sold in bulk

An extensive tasting

The tasting started with some recent vintages of Domaine Oratoire St Martin, a leading Cairanne estate which was bought in 2020. As if that wasn’t enough, the Fabre family also bought Domaine du Joncier in Lirac in 2021. Both estates are certified biodynamic – will Mont-Redon follow suit? ‘The boat is too big to turn quickly,’ says Fabre, but organic would be a good first step, and they are not far off.

The first five vintages of Mont-Redon’s ‘Le Plateau’, a new top-tier cuvée first produced in 2016, were also brought out to try. It’s a blend of Grenache and Syrah taken exclusively from old vines grown on a field of galets roulés. These are immensely powerful wines that will be very long lived, but it’s currently hard to see past the robust new oak influence – I look forward to tasting them again when they’re ready.

‘We have absolute faith in the longevity of our wines,’ says Fabre as we embark upon a tasting of 18 vintages of his classic Châteauneuf, from 2022 back to 1961.

Click here for more wines from the Château Mont-Redon stable

Arc of maturity

When young, the wines can show some oak influence and they take time to take shape, sometimes lacking harmony or appearing disjointed. A typical vintage starts drinking well around seven years old; powerful vintages take three to four years longer.

Mont-Redon isn’t an overtly ripe Châteauneuf; it’s relatively lean, dry and tense. It isn’t the most concentrated expression, but that doesn’t mean it’s one for early drinking. On the contrary, this athletic shape gives it staying power.

It doesn’t excel every year. Lesser vintages like 2018 and 2011 were considerably weaker than the highly impressive 2020 and 2010. The surprise of the tasting was the 2013, which was remarkably fresh, pure and well balanced. Given its affordable price tag, buying in top years with long ageing in mind is a smart move.

At around 20 years old the wines start to take on real complexity, with layers of game and chestnut over strawberry and plum fruits. As the wines approach 30 years old, the gaminess subsides to reveal notes of menthol, wet earth and mushroom. Around 40 years old, aromas of smoke and black olive come to the fore. At 50, orange peel and dried rose petal notes emerge. The oldest wines we tasted, from the 1960s, were still fascinating and delicious, with the oldest displaying balsamic notes, madeirised touches, soy and meat stock.

Though the staying power of southern Rhône wines is often underestimated, Châteauneuf has an incredible life force. Along with its physical scale, it’s the longevity of its wines that give this appellation such grandeur. To cover hectares is impressive, but to straddle decades is altogether more profound.

Tasting notes and score for 28 wines tasted across six decades:

Wines are ranked from youngest to oldest

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