The wines of Château Beauchêne come from exceptional terroirs located to the north and south of the city of Orange.
To the south, the alluvial terraces of rolled quartz pebbles and sandy red clay enhance our Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red and White as well as our Côtes-du-Rhône "Le Terroir".
To the north, our Côtes du Rhône Villages and Côtes du Rhône, express the typicality of the “Coniacian” limestone terraces dating from the secondary era (65M years), the sandy-stony hillsides or even the gravelly alluvial terraces. brought by the river Aygues.
In order to respond to climate changes and drought, we have been, for 40 years, renewed part of the vineyard while reinforcing the typicity of the wines of Château Beauchêne with grape varieties expressing even better the strength, finesse and elegance that characterize our style.
The vinification cellar, partly underground, allows the development of our different vintages, under ideal technical conditions, adapted to the expression of our different terroirs.
The old cellar of the Château,
vaulted, benefits from an ideal humidity and regularity of temperature for the ageing of wines in barrels (barrels and demi-muids).
the slow and continuous penetration
of oxygen through the wood (redox) improves the gustatory qualities, the expression of the aromatic potential and stabilizes the colouring matters, while softening the tannins.
The character of a wine estate is due as much to the history of its terroir as to the personality of the winegrowers who shaped it.
Attached to their land, the several generations of winegrowers in the Bernard Family have always known that the vines must be looked after in order for them to have a long life, and being most suitable for optimal quality. Some of the family's plots date from 1901 just after the phylloxera crisis. Allowing a vine to express itself without forcing it, with a fair balance between the characteristics of the terroir and the capacities of the grape variety, is the only way to preserve the true richness of a vineyard through the generations.
We have been working intensively for several years on agronomic methods that take into account the environment and health: preservation of the ecosystem and its biodiversity (grass cover, fauna / flora refuge areas), installation of apiaries which serve as ecological indicators. and honey harvest, controlled protection of the vineyard, absence of irrigation and control of soil fertility.
The HEV (High Environmental Value) certification is an extension of this work. It promotes and shows credit to our good environmental practices. This is a voluntary process, resulting from the ecological national commitments by the French Government. Level 3, the most demanding, was certified in December 2018.
The family makes a point to use as little phytosanitary products as possible; Château Beauchêne is fortunate to be located in a region blessed by the Gods where Sun and Mistral improve the climate and reduce the need for treatment.
