Cuvee Maclura Cotes du Rhone by Chateau Pegau 2021

The story of Domaine du Pegau is a classic French tale of history, passion, and artistry… past, present, and future. The Féraud family who owns Pegau have been growing vines in Chateauneuf-du-Pape since 1670, with titles to their earliest vineyards dating back to 1733. But the glass of deep garnet red that sits before me right now, the young and commanding Cuvée Réservée Rouge 2016, is not just telling me a story of the past and of tradition, of grapes from vines that have endured two world wars, of a land that literally sings as if the mistral winds were given a voice. This is modern-day labor of love, handcrafted by the Domaine’s contemporary Ferauds, father and daughter team Paul and Laurence.

After her studies in Paris, Laurence returned to her home full of vision and verve about the future of her family’s famous parcels in Chateauneuf, and shortly thereafter in 1987 what was once a farm that sold grapes to other producers became an estate-bottled Domaine, named Pegau (after the ancient terracotta jugs used in the Pope’s summer residence that gave the village its name).