One red, since 1600

The Avrils have farmed Chateauneuf-du-Pape since 1600, Paul put Clos des Papes on the bottle in 1896, and Paul-Vincent Avril has made the wine himself since 1988, still one red drawn from 24 plots across 35 hectares. You are looking at the northern edge of the southern Rhone, where the family still keeps the lots apart until each plot is ripe, and then they let that one red speak, which is exactly what both critics stayed to taste.

Sand, clay, and galets

Between Avignon and Orange the ground changes under your feet, sand where the wine wants finesse and clay where it wants structure, and much of that clay is covered with the rounded stones you can see between the rows. Those 35 hectares are split into 24 plots so the family can pick each site at its own moment and co-ferment the parcels, and James Suckling tasted this 2024 as 50% Grenache, 35% Mourvedre, 10% Syrah, and 5% Counoise. Decanter put the crop at 17 hectoliters to the hectare, under the estate's usual average near 20, which is the concentration that keeps the fruit precise instead of heavy.

Concrete, then large oak, no new wood

The red goes into ceramic-lined concrete vats, destemmed and crushed, the varieties together when the ripeness allows, and maceration runs about three weeks before the wine stays in vat through the winter.

Then it spends twelve months in large old oak casks. The domaine does not use new wood. After that the lots are blended again so the first bottle matches the last, bottling happens at the estate, and the whole crop is sold in bottle, so when you open one you decant it an hour or two and pour it near 57 degrees and the cherry and the mineral have room to move.

Cherry, truffle, and a bright line

"Black cherry, truffle, and a bright line." Black cherry and truffle open the glass, with bark beside them, and blackberry, raspberry, and a mineral line come up behind a body that stays medium, bright, and long. Drink it now or give it a few years, because the domaine says these reds are made to age.

Wine-Searcher, checked on 2026-11-02, shows a California low of $99.95 and an average of $100.46 for this 2024, and the corner above says so, while this bottle is only $89.

Consuls, then the cru

A stone plaque at the domaine names the Avrils as premiers consuls and treasurers of Chateauneuf-du-Pape from 1756 to 1790, the Clos des Papes mark was filed at the tribunal in Orange in 1902, and in 1911 Paul Eugene Avril called a commission at the town hall to set the bases of the appellation this bottle still lives inside. Regis Avril served the Elysee in the years of de Gaulle and Pompidou, Paul Avril took the vines in 1963, and Paul-Vincent studied in Burgundy before he took them in 1988, so the house at 13 avenue Pierre du Luxembourg bottles one red and one white, with no special cuvee. The winery price is $150.

Ratatouille and a thyme roast chicken

The herbs growing out of those stones want the same herbs at the table, so a Provencal ratatouille lets the cherry and the brightness meet the vegetables, and a roast chicken rubbed with thyme lets the truffle and the grip stand up to the skin. Pour it beside either plate and the second bite tells you why both critics stayed with the glass.