Le Vieux Donjon

What the RVF says in its 2018 Guide: "Antoine-Marie Arena produced his first wines in 2014. Antoine Arena's youngest son has been working and making wine at the family estate for years. He now signs his own cuvées, taking charge of Hauts de Carco in white and Carco in red, and made his entry in the 2017 edition. The reading of the wines and the sensitivity of the new blended wines confirm the talent of this young winemaker. The coherence and depth of his wines are beyond doubt: we award him a well-deserved second star. The wines: they give a lot of emotion, show both precision and accuracy. Hauts de Carco has great purity, a powerful yet firm mouthfeel. Bianco Gentile is a model, with the maturity of this grape variety, without its drawbacks: full-bodied, it is well managed by bitters that reframe it. Bianchi, a blend of vermentino, biancu gentile and muscat, is subtle. It exhales notes of rose and cumin, and delights us with its harmonious mouthfeel, its quality length; for a lemon chicken. Carco, not very extracted and infused, is distinguished by its right substance and finesse. Memoria is chubbier and fuller, but retains the precision of the fruit and the quality of the tannins. Finally, San Giovanni, still very young, offers spicy nuances and a quality substance. It seduces by its dimension"

Le Vieux Donjon is a very popular domain for lovers of traditional, high quality Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines at a very reasonable price. This thirteen-hectare estate, on a terroir of rolled pebbles for the most part, is one of the most consistent in the appellation and nothing is by chance, quite the contrary.

The first explanation comes from the fact that the discreet Lucien Michel and now his daughter Claire produce only one red wine (and a micro-cuvée in white), a wine coming from the sectors of the Marine, Mourres de Gaud and Pialon on about fifteen hectares (of which one in white). The Vieux Donjon vineyard is essentially made up of old vines, over 50 years old on average, most of which are Grenache.

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The harvest, picked at perfect maturity, thanks in particular to the famous terroir of rolled pebbles which ensures the reflection of heat to the plant during the day, is partially de-stemmed (depending on the vintage) and matured in tuns in the traditional way with indigenous yeasts. Claire, who is gradually taking over from her father (with the support of Philippe Cambie), manages to deliver a faultless vintage after vintage with a very refined and well-balanced Châteauneuf-du-Pape, a real model to follow... The cultivation remains reasoned even if the practices are almost organic.

The Vieux Donjon is still relatively unknown in France because it is not widely distributed, but it is regularly praised by foreign critics, whether it be by Parker, who regularly places it among the very best of the appellation, or by the Wine Spectator, which has already placed it at the top of its Top 100 best wines of the vintage on several occasions.

A star of the appellation still accessible...