One of the stars of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is Château de Vaudieu. A revitaliziation of this property came about under Laurent Brechet who has made great strides advancing this noble property. Laurent and his brother Julien (who runs Domaine des Bosquets) are the grandsons of southern Rhône icon Gabriel Meffre. Though from an historic lineage of wine makers, both have taken a modernist approach to winemaking. But for them both, it is all begins with the terroir. And Vaudieu has some of the best. Bordering Chateau Rayas to the north, the subsoils are primarily sandy with limestone and marls and two plateaux of red clays. Several bottlings are done to best express each individual terroir and the Val de Dieu is their ultimate expression of sandy soils. Val de Dieu refers to the "Valley of God" and comes from the parcel just to the east of the castle. It is Grenache based with Syrah and Mourvèdre making up the remainder from vines aged between 40 to 70 years of age. Grenache is aged in a mix of mostly used barrique and demi-muid (large oak barrels), while the Syrah and Mourvedre are aged in 228L barrels. A beautiful expression now but worthy of years in the cellar.