Châteauneuf-du-Pape Vintage 1987

The AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape is a gem of the Rhone Valley. It is famous for all its wines, whether red or white. It is in this that each type of vine that we use brings its identity, its personality. Wines have an obvious quality/price ratio when we know their holding potential whether for red wines or AOC white wines.

The climatic conditions that determined the evolution of the vine’s vegetative cycle were quite special for the AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

After a harsh winter, marked by snowfall, made quite exceptional for our region, spring was late and rainy, with spreading of flowering which slowed the vegetative cycle without causing the coulure, leaving the prospect of a normal harvest.

The half-tinted month of July was offset by a sunny and warm month of August. Despite this, the sunshine was lower than in other years.

This deficit led to a delay in maturity, the harvest starting around September 21 for the earliest grape varieties and whites.

Climatic disturbances in this critical period have slowed the return of grapes.

Faced with this uncertain situation, the AOC Châteauneuf-du-Pape took the initiative, at the beginning of the harvest, to reduce the yield per hectare to 32 hls.

The severity of our control decree imposing manual sorting of the harvest found this year all its merits. The latter, seriously practised by our winegrowers, led to an even smaller harvest than one might think since the figures known to date show an average yield of 28 hls per hectare, or an overall harvest of 93,000 hls, less than the 1986 figure of 10,000 hls. Despite low yields, the average price of the bottle should remain stable.