Chateauneuf du Pape Philia 2024 Famille Isabel Ferrando

The Châteauneuf-du-Pape Philia 2024 from Famille Isabel Ferrando is a bottle of rare singularity and emotion, the first cuvée created entirely by Guillemette Ferrando, daughter of Isabel, who joined the family domaine in 2023 after her studies. Its name is a deliberate double homage: Philia designates sincere friendship and selfless love in ancient Greek, that profound attachment founded on respect and sharing, and also resonates as Filia, daughter, in Latin. A first wine that is also a declaration of love to a terroir, to a mother, and to a way of making wine. Only 4,500 bottles produced.

The terroir and the vineyards

Philia comes from parcels of the Saint-Préfert terroir, at the heart of the family domaine, on soils composed of rolled pebbles, gravels and sands, the characteristic geological puzzle of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, legacy of the Rhône's ancient sediments, which stores solar heat by day to release it slowly at night, ensuring slow maturation and remarkable aromatic concentration. The assemblage, both classic and personal, brings together three emblematic varieties of the southern Rhône: Grenache Noir for generosity and fruit, Counoise for freshness, vivacity and spices, and Cinsault for lightness, finesse and floral touch. It is precisely this choice of varieties that reveals all of Guillemette's style: not the power and concentration that have long defined Châteauneuf, but elegance, tension and drinkability. A luminous and airy Châteauneuf, farmed in certified organic and biodynamic agriculture since 2022, vinified in concrete tanks with spontaneous fermentations in indigenous yeasts.

Tasting profile

The colour is a clear, luminous ruby with fine transparency that announces the lightness and finesse of the wine. The nose is striking in its freshness and vivacity for a Châteauneuf-du-Pape: crunchy aromas of red fruits, raspberry, tart cherry, pomegranate, intertwine with delicate floral touches of peony and violet, lifted by a hint of pepper and sweet spices that signal the presence of Counoise. On the palate, energy is the first sensation that takes hold: the wine is lively, juicy and wonderfully drinkable, with fine, silky tannins of stunning elegance for the appellation. The natural freshness brought by Counoise and Cinsault perfectly balances the solar generosity of Grenache, and the finish is long, fruited and lightly spiced, with a return of Provençal garrigue and a chalky minerality that recalls the origin of this exceptional terroir. A Châteauneuf that defies convention, fine, airy and immediately generous, marking the arrival of a new generation.

The domaine

Isabel Ferrando left banking at 34 to devote herself to the vine. Trained at the lycée viticole of Carpentras, then guided by Henri Bonneau, the legendary figure of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, she acquired in 2002 the Domaine Saint-Préfert, founded in the 1920s by Fernand Serre, one of the first to have bottled and exported his Châteauneuf wines in the 1930s. In two decades of absolute rigour, Isabel Ferrando raised her domaine to the rank of the most admired in the appellation, notably securing 10th place in Wine Spectator's Top 100 ranking in 2025. Run in certified Demeter biodynamics since 2022, the 24-hectare vineyard is planted with old vines whose Grenache averages over 70 years. In 2023, Guillemette joined her mother, and Philia was born from this meeting of two generations, two perspectives, and the same profound love of terroir.

Food pairings

This Châteauneuf-du-Pape Philia will pair beautifully with Sisteron lamb roasted with garrigue herbs, guinea fowl with olives and candied lemon, rabbit cooked in a casserole with herbs, Provençal daube, or leg of lamb in a thyme crust. It will also find lovely harmony with aged cheeses such as Pélardon, Picodon or aged Banon. Served lightly cool between 15 and 16°C, it will reveal all the vivacity, freshness and generosity of a Châteauneuf of a new generation.