Domaine Juliette Avril is a family-run wine estate. In 1988, Marie Lucile Brun took over management of the estate, succeeding her mother, Juliette Avril. Her son, Stephan Brun, joined her in 2000 to lead the estate's commercial, administrative and viticulture activities.
As First Consuls of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the Avril family has centuries of winegrowing experience and Provençal tradition. A century after Frédéric Mistral, their ancestor Jules Avril was awarded the "Golden Cicada", symbol of the prestigious title of "Majoral du Félibrige", the Academy of the Provencal language.
As early as 1928, before the Appellation of Controlled Origin (A.O.C.) was officially introduced, Juliette Avril's father, Jean Avril, along with other local notable figures, participated in establishing the rules fundamental to Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine.
The estate consists of 30 hectares of vineyard, including 22 hectares of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, 6 hectares of Côtes du Ventoux and 2 hectares of Vin de Pays de Vaucluse. Half of the vines in the vineyard are more than 50 years old, including Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, and Roussane grape varieties planted according to ancestral methods.
The vineyard can be essentially broken down into two parts: The northern sector consists of fertile plateaus, rich in clay and chalk soils and cobblestones, while further south the soil is filtering and gravely.
The Domaine is equipped with an ultra-modern cellar in which vinification takes place. There are stainless steel tanks for vinification, large barrels called "foudres", a pneumatic press and a temperature control system. Gravity techniques are used as much as possible. Once the vinification process is completed, after 16 months of work, the vintage is bottled.
Domaine Juliette Avril