The estate
Château Juvenal : an exceptional terroir?
Let us tell the history of Chateau Juvenal.
Anne-Marie and Bernard Forestier bought the domain and its castle in 2001. Family Alban (Jean-Claude, Mireille and Sebastien) had maintained the property with their domain so far. The grapes were brought to the winery Balma Venitia, where wine was made and sold as vintage, red, Château Juvenal and two wines, red and rose, Domaine Alban. In 2011, Anne-Marie and Bernard Forestier and Sébastien Alban joined, pooled their lands, built the cellars of Château Juvenal, and made Château Juvenal wines at the castle for the first time, under the leadership of benevolent Philippe Cambie, International renowned oenologist (named best wine consultant of the 2010 year by Rober Parker).
Philippe loves beautifull soils, and Château Juvenal is so :
Placed on the southern slope of Graveyron, small hill in Comtat Venaissin in Provence, which is is a clay and limestone gravel soil enjoying maximum sunshine.
Planting, pruning, maintenance, harvesting is carried out by Sebastien and his team with the following policy :
The plantations are decided according to two criteria: the wines we want to do and the features of our land: Grenache is expressed beautifully in the more arid lands of Graveyron. Syrah instead love our deeper lands. Other parcels of land are welcoming Mourvedre, and others, Cinsault ... Nothing is random. A plantation is preparing 2 to 5 years in advance, using analyzes of ground, plowing, advice, choice of plans, clones ... and it is for 50 years or more. Each plot is a country.
Work in the vineyard of Château Juvenal are conducted in order to :
Having a healthy vineyard for a total quality harvest, which means treating when a real health hazard does exist
Respect of nature and consumer (and neighbors, as we are !).
That's why we practice a nature-friendly agriculture and human excluding treatments using synthetic products (organic farming).
The 2011 vintage is certified organic conversion, 3rd year, the 2012 harvest will be fully organic.
And because each plot is a country, we choose for each of them the optimum harvest date as the flavor of the fruit is at optimum when the berries are fully mature. We gather the grapes by hand, with skilled pickers, who retain only the ripe and healthy grapes.
Wine making
For white and rosé wines, the grapes are cooled (10 ° C) before being pressed directly into the pneumatic press, then transferred to tanks and half-hogshead. It is maintained at the right temperature for the duration of the fermentation. Then the wine is on bred on its lees in thermo-regulated tank and half hogshead for white, tank thermos-regulated tank for the rosé.
For reds, the grapes are also cooled (14 °) and then sent directly into a thermos-regulated tank with the skins and seeds of grapes (loaded with anthocyanins and antioxidants). We practice during alcoholic fermentation shedding, punching down and pumping over to extract color and flavor. When all the sugar has been converted into alcohol, we proceed to decanting operation which separates the wine from grape, which will continue to rise in thermos-regulated tank or barrel.
Wines
Château Juvenal's wines are sincere, pure and expressive and have been created and nurtured with respect.
Olive oil
Château Juvenal's olive oil is a high quality artisan oil : ancestral olive grove (some trees are over 300 years old), respect for the environment, handpicked, cold extraction after being grinded by millstone in a local mill, decanted in stainless steel vats with conical bases.
Olive collection takes place early in the season (end of November) and the end result would be best described as a "fruity green" olive oil.
Our olive oil is biologic and AOC de Provence.
