The oldest vineyard in Bordeax has a fantastic Catholic history.

The first harvests happened as early as 1252 and the vineyard has produced over 700 vintages. To this day, the bottles are labeled and embossed with the crossed keys of Peter and Papal Tiara. In modern times, the varieties grown at the estate include Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, and Muscadelle.

The land upon which the vineyards grow was a gift. In 1297 Bertrand de Goth had become Archbishop of Bordeaux and his brother (who happened to be Archbishop of Lyon) gifted him the parcel of land situated inland of the left bank of the Garrone river and South of the city of Bordeaux in the Pessac-Léognan region of Graves. In 1304 Bertrand assumed the papacy, the vineyard was passed on to the succeeding Archbishop of Bordeaux and the estate adopted Bertrand’s papal name, Clement V. The estate and was handed on to each succeeding Archbishop until the French Revolution at the end of the 18th century when the Chateau was nationalized (is was a spicy time in French-Catholic history).

Pope Clement V would go on to oversee the movement of the Papacy to Avignon. This was a wonderful chapter for Catholic/Wine history (it’s how we ended up with Chateauneuf du Pape), and a Terrible (capitol T terrible) chapter for the Church. The move caused scandal, multiple factions claiming the papacy, drama, infighting - our humanity was on full display. The upshot was that St. Catherine of Sienna got to shine and through her intervention, the Papacy to return to Rome.

At the time of this writing, Chateau Pape Clement’s offerings range from $90 on futures to $250+ for 750ml.