75% Grenache, 25% Syrah

Food pairings: Côte de bœuf, grilled meats with herbes de Provence, lamb shoulder with thyme and grilled chicken with rosemary.

Winemaking: The grapes are harvested by hand into small crates, sorted and destemmed, with part of the fruit co-fermented. After a cold pre-fermentation maceration come the alcoholic and malolactic fermentations, and the wine is aged in stainless steel and concrete vats.

Vineyards and terroir: The Brunel family bought its first vines in Rasteau in 1963. In the north of the appellation the vines grow on terraces of clay, stony or granitic soils; in the south they sit on broad parcels of limestone or sandy soils, sheltered by windbreaks of cypress and poplar.

Family and history: Gaston Brunel bought Château de la Gardine in Châteauneuf-du-Pape in 1945, and the label recalls a family of vignerons since 1670. The estate is run today by Patrick and Maxime Brunel with their wives Eve and Maryse, together with the next generations: Marie-Odile, Philippe and Laure, and Guillaume and Thibault.

In the pictures: Château de la Gardine; and the Brunel family. Photographs from Château de la Gardine.