The Chastan family has been making wine in the Rhone area for four generations, settling in Orange in 1956. They created the estate’s cellar by converting old buildings. It is in this cellar that the harvest, obtained from plots already belonging to the grand parents (located in the prestigious Gigondas and Vacqueyras communes) and vineyards purchased more recently in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, is brought and made into wine. Frédéric Chastan and his father Alain cultivate the estate now with Frédéric essentially taking care of the cellar and marketing, whereas Alain runs the vineyard.

The vineyard covers 27 hectares and is split into numerous plots situated within a radius of 20 km. The strength and the originality of the vineyard come from it being spread over four communes enabling the production of four vintages: Côtes du Rhone, Vacqueyras, Gigondas and Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This also enables them to spread the risks associated with very localised bad weather (frosts in springtime and hail). The Chastan family have chosen to respect their ancestor’s traditions by keeping the predominance of the Grenache grape variety (84% of the vineyard) and have chosen not to follow the recent trend of excessive use of Syrah, a variety highly valued in the Rhone valley for its qualities as an “improver”. The aforementioned Grenache base is complemented by the following varieties: Mourvedre (9% of the vineyard), Syrah (5%), Carignan (2%), and a little Cinsault (1%).The typology of the land differs according to the vintages: a stony plateau of clay and lime stone in the Côtes du Rhone area, a plateau and slopes of heath covered by pebbles in Vacqueyras, sand covered slopes in Gigondas and finally an extremely stony limestone and clay plateau in Chateauneuf-du-pape.

One of the aspects which is particular to the Chastan family is their desire to sell well matured wines. They do not allow themselves to market wines that are too young; their wines will therefore spend a minimum of four years in the cellar before being sold: 1 year in a concrete vat (vinification), 2 to 3 years in steel vats (storage), 6 to 18 months in large oak casks (development and oxygenation) and finally 6 to 8 months in bottles (rest).