Henri Bonneau in his Châteauneuf-du-Pape cellar, wine thief and glass in hand, framed with Dynamic Cellars wave design

Henri Bonneau & Fils

Henri Bonneau & Fils is a small estate on six hectares in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, planted mostly to Grenache. Henri Bonneau, who made his first vintage there in 1956, kept the winemaking deliberately simple: low yields, native yeast fermentation, and long aging in old wooden barrels and foudres.

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The Bonneau family has grown vines on this small plot in Châteauneuf-du-Pape for generations. Henri Bonneau, born in 1938, made his first vintage there in 1956 and worked the property until his death on 21 March 2016. He avoided any fixed method: there was no set blend for the wines, no official organic certification, and no interest in modern cellar equipment.

The six-hectare vineyard is planted about 85 percent to Grenache, with small amounts of Mourvèdre, Counoise and Vaccarèse; Bonneau refused to grow Syrah, which he judged unsuited to the appellation. Yields are kept low and the grapes are picked ripe. Fermentation takes place on native yeasts in concrete vats, and the wine then moves into a mix of old barrels and foudres, some 20 to 40 years old. The blend for each cuvée, whether the estate Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Marie Beurrier or Réserve des Célestins, is decided close to bottling by tasting rather than fixed in advance, and the wines age four to ten years before release.

At Dynamic Cellars, our Henri Bonneau & Fils selection centers on the estate's top cuvée: we carry the Réserve des Célestins 2019 and 2018. See more in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Rhône Valley Wines and Mature Wines (5-15 Years).