2022 Crous St Martin Cotes du Rhone Les Etriers

About Crous St. Martin

Crous St Martin is located in the north-east of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation. The origin dates from 1879 which coincides with the restauration of St Martin’s Cross (“Crous” in local provincial language), which the monks had installed to indicate the road to Châteauneuf. St Martin is considered the messenger of civic rights and sharing.

1879 was also the year when many clerical estates were put up for sale, in a more liberal republican political environment. Many private estates got established. 1879 also appeared to be a great vintage for wine. Raisons for our wine to be named « Hommage à l’an 1879 »

Our soil is composed of river stones, the famous « galets roulés », which got cumulated in our area millions of years ago, during the ice age period. These stones are made of quartzite, a pure and hard silica. This layer of stones is sometimes several meters deep, and mixed with a brownish clay. From this soil our wine gets its depth and concentration. The stones cumulate the sun heat during the day, and reject it during the night.

We also have a second soil type, less known, but equally important: an alluvial soil of fine sand mixed with clay. This soil type if very beneficial for the finesse and elegance in our wines.

The mixture of these two soil types brings a lot more complexity in our wine and continuity over the different vintages.