Audio Guide Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Châteauneuf-du-Pape

Places researched in this city

A selection of the 8 places we've researched in this city. The full set is in the Parroo app.

• Papal ruins
• Historic vineyards
• Romanesque church
• Village square
• Wine cellars
• Neo-medieval château

• 01

  Old Village of Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Before it was wine country, this village was lime country: its 13th-century name, Châteauneuf-Calcernier, came from the lime kilns that drove the local economy. The settlement itself dates to 1094, when it was recorded as Castrum Novum, a fortified hilltop organized around a defensive position that the Bishop of Avignon would later inherit from Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.

• 02

  Vineyards and the Rolled Pebbles

  The large, smooth galets roulés blanketing the vineyards are not just photogenic: they absorb heat during the day and release it at night, accelerating grape ripening in ways that helped the appellation earn France's very first AOC status in 1936. The vineyards now stretch across 3,150 hectares and trace their earliest documented ownership to a bishop of Avignon in 1157.

• 03

  Church of Our Lady of the Assumption

  A 1155 papal bull by Pope Adrian IV is one of the earliest documents to confirm this church's existence, yet the building itself goes back to the late 11th century. Over the centuries its dedication changed several times, from Notre-Dame to Saint-Théodoric and back, and a tower that once served a defensive role was later repurposed as the bell tower.

• 04

  Place du Portail

  The fountain at the centre of this square was first documented in 1635, though it is thought to be older, and its column is carved with four sculpted faces that villagers walked past every time they collected water. A public wash house stood here until 1977, and the square still hosts the annual fête médiévale de la Véraison.

• 05

  Château des Fines Roches

  When Henri-Auguste Constantin finished this neo-medieval castle in 1893, the crenellated towers and machicolations were essentially a stylish facade for the wine cellar hidden inside. Provençal poet Anselme Mathieu attended the inauguration that year, and the 45-hectare estate is now a 4-star hotel whose vineyards remain in production.

• 06

  Wine Museum, Maison Brotte

  Jeanne Brotte turned her family home into a museum in 1972, starting with a modest collection of old tools; what surprised later visitors is that some of those tools trace back to the 14th century. The 500-square-metre space now draws more than 22,000 visitors a year and tells the full story of the vigneron's trades, from pruning to bottling.

• 07

  Cave du Verger des Papes

  Carved directly into the limestone hill beneath the ruins of the papal château, these five vaulted rooms contain Gallo-Roman vats that predate the popes by centuries. The current family took over the cellars in 2001 and now offers tastings of more than 150 local wines in a space that has never needed a temperature-control system.

• 08

  1 more places to discover

  In the Parroo app