Hi folks:
My wine friends and I will be in the Chateauneuf area at the end of Aug through Sept 2.
Recommendations for wineries, tastings? Best ones?
Of course we love Beaucastle!
Do we need appts?
I havent been to the area and any suggestions are greatly appreciated
Beaucastel offers a nice seated tasting/tour with other groups. Reservations required.
Charvin - appt required.
Pegau - you can taste a few select wines w/o appt at their outpost in town w/o a reservation, but recommend booking a tasting appt at the winery.
Mont Olivet - don’t believe an appt is needed.
On our last trip we had nice visits at Clos des Papes and Chateau La Nerthe. We also did stop in tastings at Pegau, Raymond Usseglio and Grand Veneur/Jaume, the latter of which is soon after the autoroute exit, all of which were worth a stop. If you’ll be there a few days consider driving over to Gigondas, which has beautiful scenery and several very good wineries (St. Cosme, Pierre Amadieu and Domaine des Bosquets have stop in tasting rooms, Santa Duc requires an appointment).
I second Domaine Pegau. Woman winemaker. Reservations are always a good idea.
What they said.
Definitely make appointments in advance. You’re going at the tail end of vacation season over there (all of August). You need to know in advance who is open and receiving visitors and who isn’t.
We had a great visit at Janasse but speaking French will get you a better tour (and tasting).
A little late, but for anyone referencing later.
I too enjoyed Pegau. Would also very much recommend reaching out to Barroche… Julien did a vineyard tour like no other when we visited in 2016.