The Catholic Church and wine: The Babylonian Captive Papacy and Châteauneuf-du-Pape

I have been tracking the role of the Catholic church in the spread of wine beyond its entry point into western civilization beginning with the story of the Cistercian monks and the wines of Burgundy. I continue now with the French popes and Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

France was embroiled in military conflict with the English as well as the independence-minded Flemish in the late 13th century. War is expensive and the French monarch (Philip IV; also called Philip the Fair) resorted to taxation, coin-debasement, and borrowing to acquire the needed funds. 

King Philip IV ("The Fair") of France
(Source: history.com)

Philip prompted loud outcries from the Catholic Church and Pope Boniface VIII when he levied taxes on the French clergy amounting to 50% of their incomes. Boniface "reminded" the King that only the Pope had authority to tax the clergy and issued a Papal Bull forbidding the transference of any church property to the French crown.

Pope Boniface 
(Source: the templarknight.com)

Philip retaliated by forbidding the removal of bullion from France. Matters were partially resolved when Boniface eventually (1299) agreed that Philip could tax the clergy in times of emergency.  But this was only a temporaray lull in an intense diplomatic battle between the two rulers which culminated with Boniface escaping an arrest ordered by the King (he was actually captured for three days at his Palace in Anagni prior to his escape). Boniface died soon after the escape and was succeeded by Pope Benedict XI.

Upon Benedict's death, Philip engineered the election of Bertrand de Got, former Archbishop of Bordeaux, to the papacy. Bertrand took the name Clement V and his ascendance marked the beginning of what came to be called the Babylonian Captive Papacy (due to the influence exerted on Papal affairs by French Kings during this period). Clement V (who was also linked to the Bordeaux estate of the same name) ruled from 1305 - 1314.

Pope Clement V 
(Source: thefamouspeople.com)

Word came over the Alps that a French Pope might not be very welcome in Rome so Clement accepted King Philip's offer to house the papacy in France. Clement decided to settle in the Comtat Venaissin (of the Avignon area) which had been sold to the papacy by Raymond VII of Toulouse in 1229.

Grapes were probably grown in proto-Chateauneuf-du-Pape in Gallo-Roman times but it is only in 1157 that we get the first mention of the vineyards of Geoffroy, Bishop of Avignon, who grew vines there and "maintained them in keeping with Roman tradition." Clement V, in 1314, discovered the "special soil" of the area.

Pope Clement V was succeeded by Jacques Duèze, former Bishop of Avignon, scion of an important merchant and banking family in Cahors, and a connoiseur of Cahors wine. Duèze took the name Pope John XXII. 

Pope John XXII

The Pope sought a location away from the hubbub of the Avignon Court yet close enough for a courier to complete a round trip within a single day and settled on the heights of the Village Calcernier which lay halfway between Avignon and Orange. A small castle had occupied the spot but John oversaw the entirety of the construction of a new Castle between 1317 and 1333.

Castle ruins at Châteauneuf-du-Pape

John did much to improve the viticultural practices of the area. He brought in winegrowers from Cahors to plant vineyards under the castle walls and regularly drank the wines. He eventually gave the wines the coveted designation Vins du Pape, opening the door to entrance into the grand courts of Europe. According to the archives of the Apostolic Chamber, a total of 3 million vines were planted in the vicinity of the Pope's Palace in 1334 (between 600 and 800 ha of vineyard) and annual consumption at the court exceeded 3000L.

The Carthusian monks grew and maintained these vineyards until the 18th century while the name Châteauneuf-du-Pape was officially adopted in 1893.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme

The Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC

The Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC is known for "rich red wines redolent of the heat and herbs of the south" and "full aromatic white wines with a crisp freshness," with both styles complexed by blending; up to 13 varieties for the reds and five for the whites. I was pleased to be invited by the Fédération des Syndicats de Producteurs Châteauneuf-du-Pape to explore the region and its wines as part of a 2014 Digital Wine Communications Conference pre-conference Press Trip. The trip itinerary is presented below.

Visits	Meals and Tastings
Terroir of Chateauneuf-du-Pape with geologist Georges Truc (treated previously)	Lunch at La Mère Germaine with a tasting of CdP whites
Domaine La Barroche	Dinner at La Table de Sorgue and tasting of older CdP vintages
Domaine de Nalys
Chateau Fortier
Ogier – Clos de l’Oratoire

It is from this visit, plus subsequent secondary research, that I have crafted this description of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC.

The Châteauneuf-du-Pape AOC, the largest and most important of the Southern Rhone AOCs, is located in the westernmost portion of the Vauclause region, 19 km north of Avignon and 10 km south of Orange. Its 3200 ha of vineyards renders it the largest appellation in the Southern Rhone (and almost equal to the size of the entire Northern Rhone, which comes in at 3264 ha) and its annual production surpasses the total of all of the Northern Rhone appellations.

The appellation is distributed over five communes and 134 lieux-dits.

Commune	Size (ha)	Percent	# of Lieux-dits	Percent of Lieux-dits
Chateauneuf-du-Pape	1706	52.8	76	56.7
Courthézon	663	20.5	26	19.4
Orange	381	11.8	6	4.5
Bédarrides	353	10.9	23	17.2
Sorgues	128	4	3	2.2
Total	3231	100	134	100

The appellation's climate is Mediterranean with approximately 2800 hours of sunshine and 650 mm of rain annually. The mistral, a strong, cold, dry wind from the north or mortheast, is a striking feature of the environment. It blows annually for approximately 120 days per year, primarily in the spring and winter. It is advantageous, viticulturally speaking, in that it (i) prevents fungus growth in the vineyards, (ii) rapidly dissipates water from grapes after rainfall, and (iii) protects against late spring frosts. However, it also dries out the soils and can do physical damage to young, unprotected vines.

There is a growing trend in Châteauneuf-du-Pape away from traditional viticulture and towards more sustainable approaches. Many of the vineyards are either organic or biodynamic, or are in the process of converting to one or the other. Syrah vines are trained Guyot while all other varieties are either gobelet or bilateral cordon de royat. Vineyard plantings of the various varieties are as shown below.

Style	Variety	Size (ha)
Red	Grenache Noir	2322.62
	Syrah	350.32
	Mourvedre	213.68
	Cinsault	83.13
	Counoisé	14.24
	Muscardin	10.83
	Vaccarèse	4.11
	Picpoul	1.8
	Terret Noir	0.89
	Red Total	3001.82
White/Rose	Grenache Blanc	79.83
	Clairette	73.42
	Roussanne	35.75
	Bourboulenc	34.27
	Clairette Rosé	3.9
	Picpoul Blanc	1.8
	Picardin	0.03
	Grenache Gris	0.03
	White Total	229.03

Source: Karis, The Chateauneuf-du-Pape Wine Book

The generalized Chateauneuf-du-Pape winemaking process for red wines is illustrated below.

©Wine -- Mise en abyme