Château de Roquefort

Château de Roquefort Le Bon Vivant

In Celto-Greek times, Roquefort was an outpost for the ports of Marseille and Cassis. This fortification was then taken over by the Romans who named it "Rocca Fortis".
In the Middle Ages, the land of Roquefort was part of the Barony of Aubagne belonging to the Princes of Baux. The immense heritage of this house, which had no heir in 1425, was taken over by the crown of Provence, and it was following an exchange between King René and the bishops of Marseille in 1470 that they owed enter into possession of the Barony of Aubagne.
In 1568, Bishop Pierre de Raguenau ceded Roquefort to Pierre de Beausset whose descendants kept this land until 1812, when it was bought by General Comte de Gardanne, ancestor by marriage of the current owners, the family of Villeneuve Flayosc .
The history of Roquefort also tells us about its economy in the past. If nowadays logging, silkworm breeding, ox teams are no more than memories, the vine remains as in the past the main crop of the estate.
An inventory of the land and of the Château drawn up in 1811 mentions numerous plantations of vines in Oullières and a vaulted cellar 31 meters in length (built in 1734) containing: "a wine tableware made up of 46 iron-rimmed vats all mounted on their cadastres in cold stone, with a combined capacity of 1398 hectoliters and 76 liters ... ”In 1995 this same centuries-old cellar was completely restored and equipped with a modern winery. The story continues...


Today, the vineyard covers 24 ha. clay-limestone soils. The grape variety is made up of traditional grape varieties from our region: Grenache Noir, Syrah, Cinsault, Mourvèdre, Carignan, Clairette, Rolle (Vermentino) and Ugni Blanc.
For a third, the vines are over 40 years old, for a third between 15 and 40 years and for a third between 1 and 15 years.
From the Sainte Baume massif which culminates at an altitude of 1042 m., The relief towards the sea is formed by long mountain chains and high plateaus. Here, the vines are cultivated at an altitude of 350 to 390 m in the hollow of an imposing rocky cirque on terraces and sloping grounds.
This wild and precious environment is favored by a very advantageous microclimate created by the altitude of the land - and by a slight marine influence.

Raimond de Villeneuve has totally relaunched this family estate.
Through his choice of cultivation, Raimond de Villeneuve strives to maintain the balance of nature: tillage, organic manure, natural phytosanitary protection, no insecticides or synthetic products etc ...
Full of energy and always ready to question the constraints imposed by the decrees of appellation, in the vineyard as in the cellar, Raimond de Villeneuve has long opted for an organic culture based on tillage (Ecocert certified in 2014 ).

The nuanced and dashing whites, as well as the cool reds and beautiful Mediterranean character, are of an excellent standard. A gourmet and deep approach that we would like to see more often in the region.