The wines made by the monks and nuns of the Barroux abbey and Vignerons Caritatis (a collaboration between winemakers) have a long, rich history as they come from the oldest, papal vineyard which was planted in around 1309 by Pape Clément V. They also continue the long tradition of monk making wine in France.
Located in Provence at the foot of Mont Ventoux, Barroux Abbey was created in 1970 by Dom Gérard Calvet from a famous Bordeaux wine merchant family.
In 1986, nuns joined the monks how had already settled here and took up the running of the vineyard to continue the work there. In 2010, Jean-Dominique Artaud, who was head winegrower at Domaine de la Janasse in Châteauneuf-du-Pape at the time, told the monks and nuns that their mountain vineyard could be the site of a fine wine. From 2011 onwards, they set about making changes to their wines in this new direction. The Via Caritatis project, uniting the monks and nuns with Beaumont winemakers, was launched with the oenologist Philippe Cambie offering advice until his passing. 30 hectares of wines (10 of which are cared for by the nuns) are tended to using organic production methods and the wines are made in a cooperative cellar. 140,000 bottles of wine are made from grapes that come from plots that are becoming more and more qualitative. There’s no time like the present to discover the wines made these monks and nuns.

This wine is a wonderful blend of Clairette for its freshness and delicacy and Roussanne for its plumpness and ageing abilities. The monks work on the Annonciation plot is formed of limestone clay soil, while the nuns care for the Saint-Vincent plot has loamy-sand soil, and the winemakers tend to two terroirs, one formed of clay on the flanks of Mont Ventoux and the other at the bottom of the Saint Sépulcre chapel in Beaumont du Ventoux with its limestone-clay soil.
The secret to how it is made? Manual harvest, heavily sorted, pneumatically pressed, no destemming, clarification, vinification in stainless steel, temperature-controlled vats, slow fermentation, and ageing on its lees for 6 to 8 months.
Delicacy and harmony come together in this wine with its white and tropical fruit notes. The palate ends with a long and balanced finish.