Seven Popes lived in Avignon from 1309 to 1378. The second Pope to live there, John XXII, built the castle that gave the wine its name. He also drank the wine a lot and made improvement to it; during his time it was known as the "Vin du Pape". There are a lot of tidbits about this wine, such as it allowing 13 grapes in its cepage. This is in fact not unique, Cotes du Rhone from the south more or less share the same 13 grapes in its allowed cepage. You can go to Wikipedia or other websites to find the list of the 13 varieties.
My first contact with this wine was surprising in a non-vinous context. I was learning French at the Alliance Francais here in Hong Kong in the mid 1970s and there was mention of Camembert cheese in the lesson. The Frenchman who taught us (M. Montagu) said he would drink Chateauneuf-du-Pape with it. For some unknown reason this stuck in my head. After a vinous introduction consisting mainly of Liebfraumilch and the like, my sister and I tried some Cotes du Rhone, but we never liked it. Most probably this was due to be mediocre wines as well as not breathing the wines properly. Then I went up to a friend's parents in the early autumn of 1984 for my GP attachment as a medical student. One weekend, they had roast lamb and they opened a bottle of wine that the Sunday paper recommended. It was a Chateauneuf and I can still remember that with my first sip, two words formed in my mind - soft and big. That was all I can remember from all those years ago. I then realized what a joy Chateauneuf can be, and thus the wine has earned a special place in my heart.
BTW, can you see that in the crest in the middle of the logo, we have IOHA, NNES, PPXXII? This spells Johannes XXII, or the pope who did so much to make this wine known. (In old Latin, there is no J, only I, and in this context, the I becomes the modern J).
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