Just a few days after the grandaddy of Alsace Jean Hugel breathed his last, so did the grandaddy of the southern Rhône, Paul Avril of Clos des Papes, who died this last weekend, having been ill for some time.
His son Paul-Vincent (see Great news from Clos des Papes filmed last December) has been running this stellar estate since the late 1980s while the late Paul Avril concentrated on his considerable official activities within the INAO. He was also particularly active in Châteauneuf's Enchansonnerie des Papes, the southern Rhône's confrérie.
A Paul Avril has bottled Clos des Papes in Châteauneuf since the end of the nineteenth century, making this a producer with a most unusual history. Not to mention, of course, exceptional quality. Indeed the Avrils were the first consuls and treasurers of Châteauneuf-du-Pape – between 1759 and 1790.
