Owned by the Rougier family since 1830, the property clings to a single hillside in Montaiguet, a small hamlet just east of Aix-en-Provence, 20 miles north of Marseille. The appellation that encompasses this village is Palette AOC, and even as a small independent producer, Château Simone produces a majority of the wine labeled within the designation. To the naked eye, Château Simone appears to be a classic family-run estate, but it’s impossible to begin discussing the property without immediately diving into the myriad qualities that make this one of the most distinctive estates in France. 

The first and perhaps most shocking feature about the Rougier family’s vines is that they are north—yes, north—facing. Château Simone’s vines hug a 750-foot limestone face that is angled directly away from the sun. This is unusual, but it allows the vines to retain their freshness, despite the region’s fierce heat. It is one of the very few north-facing vineyards I’ve ever seen that produces world-class wine. Next, there is a shocking diversity of grape varieties present in these ancient vines. Château Simone sits directly between Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Bandol, so it’s unsurprising to see standards like Grenache, Mourvèdre, Cinsault, Syrah and Carignan—but if you look a little closer in the vineyard, you will discover Cabernet Sauvignon, Manosquin, Castet, Muscat Noir, Théoulier, Tibouren, Picpoul Noir, Muscat de Hambourg, and many others. Finally, the character of Château Simone’s wines is perhaps what is most unique for sommeliers and collectors. Despite Provence’s long and sometimes punishingly hot growing season, Château Simone does not produce heavy or overpowering wines. On the contrary, the Rougier family is renowned for bottling beautifully elegant, floral, and aromatic reds that caress and finesse the palate rather than hammer it with alcohol and extract. This is a Provençal Grand Cru for lovers of traditional Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Piedmont!

Château Simone’s colorful palette of grapes are harvested by hand, de-stemmed, and lightly pressed before fermentation. An indigenous-yeast fermentation lasts for several weeks in wooden vats and the resulting wine is racked into large oak foudres to rest on lees. After one year, the wine is decanted once more into older barriques, where it rests for an additional year before being bottled. The freshly bottled wine then matures for another year before leaving their cellar. All told, the entire process takes nearly four years before release into the US market! In our experience with Château Simone, the wines often require even more time in bottle before fully exhibiting the singular qualities that made them iconic. 

Simone’s Palette Rouge often flaunts an intriguing combination of Bordeaux and Burgundy traits, but today’s release heavily channels Bordeaux—thanks in large part to 2015. The vintage produced extremely ripe grapes that perfectly accented the plush elegance of Grenache and wild, unforgiving structure of Mourvèdre. The result is a dazzling, multi-layered wine that is filled with crushed minerals, dark berry fruit, and meaty savor. Given an ample decant (1-2 hours), this opaque, deeply colored 2015 erupts with brambleberries, black raspberry liqueur, ripe red plum, garrigue, smoked meat, pepper, horse saddle, crushed rocks, truffle, cigar box, and exotic baking spices. It’s more generous and broad than usual, but holds steadfast to its breathtaking Burgundian finesse. This wine seems to gain intelligence and complexity as hours pass it by—we tracked it over three days—and every mineral-filled sip lingers for 30+ seconds. Although bursting with opulence and a distinct sauvage character right now, I cannot wait to see what lies down the road (10-25 years) for this wine; it’s going to be one for the ages. Serve in Bordeaux stems around 60 degrees and savor every sip.