“Château de Rouanne in Vinsobres, which Louis Barruol (Château de Saint Cosme Gigondas owner) acquired in 2019, is a magnificent historic estate surrounded by an outstanding, unbroken, 62-hectare vineyard in an exceptional winegrowing site. Rouanne has incredible soils with the ability to create some genuine epiphany moments, in a location which is “inhabited” by its own geographical configuration and by the souls of all those who have lived and worked here for aeons. The village of Vinsobres obtained Cru status in 2006. Although not as well-known as its peers, its classification puts it on a par with Gigondas, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Cote-Rotie and Hermitage, which speaks volumes about the quality of its terroir. Located along the edge of the Alps, Vinsobres boasts first-rate geology and a cool climate. The village itself has had a long and eventful history, shaped by the presence of the Lords de Verone who owned Rouanne from the Middle Ages through to the Revolution. Set on a Gallo-Roman site, which formerly housed a farm or‘villa’, Rouanne is named after its Late Roman Empire owner (2nd/3rd century AD), possibly a certain ‘Rugius’, as etymologists suggest. Behind its present-day chateau, a grooved column adorned with a carved capital, pottery, ‘dolia’, numerous fragments of tiles, fibulae and dressed stones, to name a few, have been found. It isn’t hard to imagine life at that time in this marvellous, well-populated, fertile site where myriad springs provided water, not far from the river Eygues and the Roman Way. Unfortunately burnt down during the French Revolution, Rouanne was restored, rebuilt and extended in the 19th century, after which the property changed hands several times in short succession. Subsequently, Château de Rouanne experienced both good times, but also very challenging times. It is practically a miracle that this unbroken 62- hectare block of old hillside vines survived unscathed and was not divided into countless pieces through inheritance. 300 m from the chateau, at the end of a pretty wood that you have to cross to get there, the beautiful farmhouse complete with dovecote was built in around 1830 on pre-existing buildings that were probably ancient. A constantly flowing spring, harnessed in Gallo-Roman times, is an everpresent feature of the property, gushing into its ponds. Everything has been grown at Rouanne: vines, olive trees, lavender, vegetables, fruit and cereals, and sheep farming was pivotal to the property. Rouanne truly is a land of plenty. The present-day farm houses a magnificent concrete vat house but the beautifully crafted, vaulted basement ageing cellar was once used to mature an altogether different breed of stock – sheep! This is where we now mature our wines. Rouanne’s impressive hillside, home to the named vineyard sites ‘Les Côtes’, ‘Rouanne et les Crottes’, ‘Guérin’ and ‘La Palud’, has a geographical profile, an incline and a south-east aspect that can be likened to Burgundy’s Côte de Nuits: the location’s propensity for growing wine is self-evident. The soils stemming from the Messinian, Tortonian and Pliocene ages contain red clay, limestone marl and sand. The prime terroir at Rouanne often promotes distinctive aromas of violet, peony and particularly gingerbread in the wines. The palate is always fresh, rounded and balanced with a signature trait – its salinity. Rouanne’s wines age incredibly well and for many years emotion invariably implies patience!”