With its iconic bottle imprint, impressive and historic name, and distinction as the first official AOC in France, Châteauneuf-du-Pape looks and feels like a truly ancient wine region–and in many respects it is. But, its emergence on the global wine collector stage happened just a few decades ago, and many of its winemaking stars are relative newcomers. Take Stéphen Vedeau, a former professional soccer player in Paris, he burst onto the Southern Rhône scene in the early 2000s and hasn’t looked back since. Today’s discovery is his deliciously textbook Châteauneuf “Vendanges.” Loaded with rich red and black fruit, wild herbs (aka garrigue), and soulful spice, this biodynamically farmed beauty has that perfect combination of power and elegance, plus lots of old-school charm. Throw in a good seven years and counting of bottle age and a sub $60 price tag and boom: red wine nirvana achieved!
Stéphane Vedeau was finding it hard to make ends meet as a professional fütbol player in Paris so he took a job in wine sales, this was 1987. He quickly became interested in the more technical, viticultural aspects of the wine industry and by 1989 he was doing his first harvest. He then spent a decade in the Languedoc, where he bought (and later sold) his first vineyard, before arriving in the Southern Rhône Valley in 2000. He was able to purchase a small property and then expanded with a second purchase in 2010, Clos Bellane, and the estate next door, Val des Rois, in 2020. Today Stéphane makes over a dozen wines, covering six different appellations.
From the very beginning Stéphane refused to use any chemicals, pesticides, or herbicides in the vineyards and his winemaking philosophy is staunchly non-interventionist–he works both naturally and meticulously–but also exceptionally clean. In 2011 he received biodynamic certification for the entire estate, and working in concert with nature to produce pristine, healthy fruit remains the primary focus of La Ferme du Mont.
For the flagship Châteauneuf “Vendanges,” that fruit is sourced from some prized, 80-100 year old vines in the heart of the appellation. The soil is as classic as the wine that it produces, featuring plenty of the smooth, rolled stones or galets roulés that are remnants of ancient glaciers, on top of sandstone and pockets of pure sand. The bunches are mostly de-stemmed and gravity fed into steel tanks, without any addition of SO2, before native yeast fermentation begins. After a gentle press the wine is aged in mostly concrete tanks, with a bit of French oak barrels to add some additional depth and complexity.
The general assumption is that 2017 is a hot, dry vintage that equates to overripe, jammy fruit bombs in the Southern Rhône. But that would assume young, irrigated vines (a la Napa), not super old, dry-farmed vines like the ones Stéphane tends. Instead the fruit was lacking in juice, with a lot of dry extract that lends itself to spicy, structured, savory wines. Yes, the “Vendanges” is robust and powerful, but not at all flabby or “hot.” Served at cellar temperature in a large glass, the deep garnet red with touches of brick and blood orange at the rim will unveil a range of classic aromatics: Morello cherry, black raspberry, kirsch, fennel, rosemary, sage, black and red pepper, dried rose petals, and a hint of smoked meat. For pairings the options are numerous: Texas style bbq beef ribs, chicken ratatouille, smoked duck, or anything lamb will do nicely. At seven years of age it’s ready to go, but I would love to stash a few bottles away as I think they’ll be even better in a couple of years.
