Crous St Martin - Chateauneuf-du-Pape Red Wine

Crous St Martin is located in the north-east of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation in the Southern Rhone Valley. The origin dates from 1879 which coincides with the restoration of St Martin’s Cross (the “Crous” in local dialect), which the monks had installed to mark out the road to the village Châteauneuf. St Martin is a local hero of a Saint and is considered as the messenger of civic rights and of sharing in general, which is perfect for the message of a winery. An allusion was to this, by integrating the shape of a bottle in the Cross itself! 1879 was also the year when many of the Church’s estates were put up for sale, in the more liberal republican political environment of the day. Many private wine estates were established as a result. As often happens with the “first” of any new regime, the vintage of 1879 was supposed to have been exceptionally fine – it’s another reason that the estate of Crous St Martin call their Chateauneuf “homage a 1879”. Today the winery is overseen in large part by Eric Bonnet.