Château de Beaucastel

Such is the dynamism of the Perrin family, owners of Château de Beaucastel and numerous other properties and brands around the Rhône and beyond, that anything written here will need rapidly updating. Current projects include a groundbreaking underground cellar complex, developing the Miraval range of wines with Brad Pitt and supplying Château de Beaucastel as a location for the new series of TV show Drops of God.

The estate, which is situated in the north-eastern edge of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, dates back to 1549 – but the current family bought it relatively recently, in 1909. They were early adopters of organic, then biodynamic, viticulture. Innovation is in the Perrin’s blood.

Unusually, Beaucastel’s 100ha of vines are all in one block around the winery itself; 70ha in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the other 30ha just outside the AOC boundary, so it’s bottled under AOC Côtes-du-Rhône.

The style here is bold, grand, architectural – but without sacrificing freshness and drinkability. Their red and white tradition bottlings are archetypical Châteauneuf. Their cuvées spéciales – a red called Hommage à Jacques Perrin and a white called Roussanne Vieilles Vignes – are like baroque palaces.