Domaine des Pères de l’Eglise | AOC Châteauneuf du Pape

 A family Domaine for six generations in Châteauneuf du Pape, today Laetitia runs the Domaine together with her uncle Serge.

The Domaine was founded in 1805, by Benoît Jouffron, an ancestor of Laetitia’s grandmother, Paulette Gradassi. At the time, the Domaine was called “Les Terres Saintes”. The Jouffron family is an old Chateauneuf du Pape family and, like many wine domaines at the time, sold their harvest to a local merchant called “Caves Bessac” (now Maison Ogier).

Serge’s grandfather, Jean Jouffron, nicknamed “Pollus” (because he was the son of Paul Jouffron), was born in 1900, and was an important figure in the appellation and the village. He worked with Baron Leroy de Boiseaumarié to create the Appellation (AOC) in 1936, and created the rules that are still in force in Chateauneuf du Pape today.

In 1978, Serge’s brother, Jean-Paul, took over the Domaine after studying oenology and viticulture and in 1992, the Domaine changed its name to “Domaine des Pères de l’Église”.

In 2001, Serge joined his brother Jean-Paul and they began producing bottled wine, selected from their best growing areas. In 2015, Jean-Paul died prematurely and his only daughter, Laetitia, who studied international business and had experience in oenology abroad, joined Serge. In 2017, Serge and Laetitia bought a plot of land in the commune of Saint Laurent des Arbres in order to diversify the range: AOC Lirac, AOC Côtes du Rhône and Vin de France.

Since 2020, the vineyard has been certified HVE (of High Environmental Value) and is gradually moving towards organic farming.

The Cellar

Built by Pollus in 1910, it expanded, in 2007, with the purchase of new land and is now equipped with a harvest receiving area furnished with a hopper and a vibrating sorting table, which ensures gentle handling of the grapes that are then crushed and entirely destemmed.

The extractions are gentle and favour concentration, finesse and freshness. The macerations are long and give colour and depth to the vintages: a veritable work of art. White grapes are harvested in the cool of the morning before pressing, after which half of them are placed in 500l barrels where they will ferment and be aged for eight months.

The wine maturing cellar lies under the building, which provides an ideal temperature and hydrometry. Tuns, demi-muids, vats, barrels, etc. Here, we adapt to the organoleptic profile of each plot and each vintage, and we give the wine the time it needs to develop, grow and form a patina… in the half-light and quiet of this timeless place.

The domaine des Peres de l’Eglise steches on several terroirs as follows:

Châteauneuf-du-Pape: Terroirs and mistral are the two great assets of the appellation, which offers four types of soil: the famous rolled pebbles, sands, limestones and finally red (clay) sandstones.

Côtes du Rhône: Area bordering Châteauneuf du Pape on the sands of St Georges, Codolet commune and on the sands of Gissac in Saint Laurent des Arbres.

Lirac: Sandy soil for the Grenache and Carignan, and limestone for the Syrah in the commune of Saint Laurent des Arbres.

Côtes du Rhône: Area bordering Châteauneuf du Pape on the sands of St Georges, Codolet commune and on the sands of Gissac in Saint Laurent des Arbres.

Vin de France: Gissac in Saint Laurent des Arbres.