Famille Isabel Ferrando "Beatus Ille" Cotes du Rhone, Rhône Valley, France 2022

FROM BOWLER WINES:

THE WINE: Beatus Ille is mostly Grenache blended with about 15% Cinsault from a parcel named, La Lionne, in the Sorgues district, just at the southern border of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and another parcel. It's blended with a bit of Syrah from Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It's 100% destemmed and fermented and aged in cement tanks.

THE PRODUCER: Isabel Ferrando’s reputation for outstanding wines has grown every vintage since her first release in 2003. She launched Domaine Saint-Préfert with 13.2 hectares, purchased from the Serre family, one of the first to estate-bottle in the appellation in the 1930’s. This is the heart of the winery, a single parcel called Les Serres, south of the village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. It’s one of the hottest areas in the appellation, but Ferrando manages to coax ethereal wines from this site. Under the Saint Prefert name, she had bottled three wines from Les Serres, “Giraud”, “Auguste Favier” and a classic Chateauneuf-du-Pape. The next year she purchased vines in the north of the appellation and started making the 100% Grenache cuvée Colombis, primarily from the lieux-dit of Colombis, with sandy soil.

After studying her parcels for more than 15 years Ferrando started a new chapter with the release of the 2020 vintage. She decided to lean into the tradition of blending in Chateauneuf-du-Pape, making a single wine from Les Serres, and it’s now the flagship of the estate. She continues to make “Colombis” as well as her Cotes-du-Rhone, and two white Chateauneuf-du-Papes, including the very limited Vieilles Clairettes in magnum. Now, all of Ferrando’s wines are bottled under the name Famille Isabel Ferrando. In 2023, Isabel’s daughter, Guillemette joined the family winery.

Ferrando has always farmed organically and starting in 2019, the vineyards are being managed following biodynamic methods (certified in 2022). She has very old vines in her holdings: the Grenache vines average more than 70 years old, and she still has some of the original Mourvèdre that was planted in the 1920’s. Les Serres has the famous galets stones on the top soil, and the subsoil has layers of blue clay and stones.