Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe has been run by the Brunier family, for six generations - since 1891 to be precise. The estate's vineyards, 70 years old on average, are planted on the celebrated Plateau of La Crau, a site renowned for grape-growing in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This terroir imparts to our wines a highly distinctive minerality, as if they have been filtered through the thick layer of large pebbles left behind when the Alpine glaciers melted, long before the Rhône Valley formed.

Piedlong - a Châteauneuf-du-Pape that is made mostly from very old Grenache planted on an extremely stony windswept unirrigated high plateau. A wine made according to a philosophy at once traditional (some stemmed grapes and lengthy maceration) and hands-off and aged in large barrels for two years will surely tend towards a balance of richness and elegance.

GRAPE VARIETIES: 70-year-old Grenache Noir (90%) and 50-year-old Mourvèdre (10%).

VINIFICATION: grapes are hand-picked, with double sorting at the vine and a third sorting in the winery. Gentle crushing and selective destemming followed by at least 30 days’ traditional fermentation in concrete and wooden vats. Pneumatic pressing, then systematic
malolactic fermentation.

MATURATION: 20-22 months in French oak foudres (60 hl), bottled without filtration or fining. Marketed at 2 years.

PERSONALITY AND AGEING: a Châteauneuf-du-Pape perfectly pitched between richness, freshness, robustness and femininity, velvet and minerality.

"Tasted just prior to bottling, Piedlong's 2021 Chateauneuf du Pape is a blend of 90% Grenache and 10% Mourvèdre from the lieu-dit of the same name. Scents of roses, red berries and citrus zest appear on the nose, while the medium to full-bodied palate is silky and elegant, with a hint of cracked pepper on the lingering finish. Drink to 2030."
92-94 points.
Joe Czerwinski, The Wine Advocate (September 2023)