About Château de Manissy

The most well-known, if not famous wine from the Rhone is undoubtedly Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The vineyards are located in the immediate vicinity of the city of Avignon, which was once home to a Papal castle. Bottles of this often robust wine therefore usually bear a Papal coat of arms.

This part of the Rhône Valley is the widest part. Whereas the river just north (Condrieu, Côte Rotie) is relatively narrow with very steep slopes, the southernmost part shows just the opposite. The river there forms a delta, it is wide and flat. The bottom there is littered with large round-worn gravel, brought in by the river, called "Galets. This metre-thick layer of gravel is very much in evidence around Tavel, but definitely also around Avignon. The sun burns brightly there, causing the stones to store heat during the day to release it in the evening. In the cool of the evening, it is curious to feel the heat coming out of the ground. Besides gravel, there are sandy soils and calcareous clays. The "white soils" (stony sandy soils with lime) of Lauze possess a very high lime content and are called "Terres Blanches.

Château de Manissy appears in writings as early as the 17th century and at the time was owned by the Lafarge family. Since there was no successor in that family to continue the estate, it was donated to the church. It was those church brothers who planted the vineyards in Tavel, and in the early 20th century their first harvest was brought in. As the denomination itself had now reached an advanced age, in 2003 the vineyard management was handed over to Florian André, a young winemaker from Tavel.

Florian, 7th generation in the wine family, immediately began the "conversion" to organic cultivation. He took university courses in both Orange and Beaune. In Burgundy, he interned at the renowned Domaine Armand Rousseau in Gevrey-Chambertin. He also took internship training in Bordeaux. There he worked with the famous Lurton family in Margaux, owners of the Grand Cru châteaux Brane Cantenac, Dufort Vivens and Ferrière. All at these top châteaux work sustainably and in many cases now biodynamically. Anno 2021, all of Château de Manissy's vineyards have been converted to biodynamic culture and are now also certified biodynamic (Demeter).