Famille Isabel Ferrando
Châteauneuf-du-Pape
“Proprietress Isabel Ferrando has taken her Saint Prefert estate to France’s highest level, and she’s unquestionably making some of the most profound wines on earth today, including both reds and whites.”
Isabel Ferrando was an agricultural banker when she bought the historic Domaine Saint-Préfert in 2002. The winery’s heart is Les Serres, a lieu-dit to the south of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape. As an outsider she was dismissed by most except for her mentor Henri Bonneau who sparked her first fermentation with a barrel from his own cellar, supplied cuttings to revive vineyards, taught her to farm organically, and pointed her to seams of blue clay in the subsoil, likened to Pomerol's Pétrus. For fifteen years she bottled Les Serres as single-site expressions alongside Colombis, her sandy limestone-soiled Grenache parcel on the appellation's western edge.
After a great personal tragedy, Ferrando overhauled her approach with the 2020 vintage. She folded her single-site cuvées into one flagship red from Les Serres, leaning into Châteauneuf's older tradition of blending, and pursued a lighter hand throughout: significantly reduced new oak, a gentle "infusion" technique for silkier tannins and delicacy, and — from a new winery built in 2022 — cement-vat fermentation with native yeasts and whole clusters, and ageing in neutral demi-muids, glass demi-johns, Stockinger foudres and amphorae. She renamed the domaine Famille Isabel Ferrando to mark the moment and to make room for her daughter Guillemette, who joined in 2024 after training under Jean-Marc Roulot in Burgundy and on harvests in Napa, South Africa, Rioja and Priorat. Guillemette's touch is already visible in the whites, where extended lees contact has brought new intensity and precision.
Certified biodynamic since 2022, the estate today makes Les Serres as its flagship red, alongside Colombis, a Côtes-du-Rhône, and three whites, including the ultra rare magnum-only Vieilles Clairettes. Famille Isabel Ferrando represents the highest echelon of Chateauneuf-du-Pape and stands amongst the very finest producers in the Rhône.
THE WINES
Famille Isabel Ferrando Vin de France ‘Stella Ducit’
A new wine from Guillemette since 2021. 100% Clairette from a 10-hectare, southeast-facing parcel planted in 2018 on limestone, red clay and pebbles. Spontaneously fermented over two weeks in steel and concrete with no maceration. Six months ageing in steel and concrete before a lightly sterile-filtered bottling.
Hawthorn and acacia blossom on the nose; citrus, gentian and a saline touch of fennel seed on a fresh, immediate palate.
Famille Isabel Ferrando Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc
65% Clairette and 35% Roussanne from a 2.5-hectare, south-facing parcel in the Quartier des Serres, lieu-dit Saint Préfert with galets roules, gravel and blue clay. Vines were planted in 1946 and 1966 (100% massale selection, now averaging 50–80 years old in 2026) and fed with vegetal compost. Whole-bunch pressed and spontaneously fermented 10 days to two weeks in barrel before six months’ ageing split between two-wine foudres, amphora and glass demijohn. No maceration. Bottled unfined and unfiltered.
“Roussanne, for its Provençal richness and acacia-blossom lift, and Clairette, for salinity and freshness.”
"Based on 70% Clairette and 30% Roussanne and barrel fermented in demi-muid and foudre, the 2024 Châteauneuf Du Pape Blanc is gorgeous, pure, and layered. It offers honeyed white peach, white flowers, subtle croissant, and spice aromatics. Medium to full-bodied and incredibly layered, it has remarkable acidity and a great finish that shows sensational purity and length. It will benefit from a year in bottle and have 15+ years of prime drinking." 95 points – Jeb Dunnuck
Famille Isabel Ferrando ‘Cuvée Spéciale Vieilles Clairettes’
100% rare pink-skinned Clairette from a tiny half-hectare plot within the Quartier des Serres, Saint Préfert, planted to the same galets roules, gravel and blue-clay soils as the Blanc. The vineyard was planted in 1946 using massale-selected vines. Very low yields of 15hl/ha. Whole-bunch pressed and spontaneously fermented for 10 days to two weeks, then aged six months split between 600-litre barrels and glass demijohns. Unfined, unfiltered, bottled exclusively in magnum.
"Another sensational white from this brilliant vigneron, the 2023 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée Speciale Vieilles Clairettes offers white peach, orange, pear, crushed stone, and acacia flowers. It's a touch more expansive and sexy compared to the 2024, with medium to full body, a seamless, layered mouthfeel, integrated acidity, and remarkable length. It needs 3-4 years of bottle age and will evolve nicely over the following two decades." 98 points – Jeb Dunnuck
Famille Isabel Ferrando Côtes du Rhône ‘Beatus Ille’
80% Grenache and 20% Syrah from a 5-hectare, south-facing parcel at the Terroir de la Lionne in Sorgues, on the banks of the Rhône just outside the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation. Planted in 1976 on red and blue clay soils, and farmed biodynamically. Spontaneous fermentation on skins for three weeks, followed by six months’ ageing in concrete tanks. Unfined and unfiltered.
"2023 Côtes-du-Rhône “Beatus Ille”- Famille Isabel Ferrando As I mentioned last year, Isabel Ferrando’s Côtes-du-Rhône “Beatus Ille” composed from a blend of eighty percent grenache and fifteen percent cinsault, primarily from the lieu à dit of La Lionne, that lies just outside of the appellation boundary of Châteauneuf du Pape. Isabel blends in five percent syrah to the cuvée, from her vines in Châteauneuf proper. The 2023 version is again, nicely low in octane for Côtes-du-Rhône these days, tipping the scales at 13.5 percent octane. The wine’s aromatic constellation is bright and complex, wafting from the glass in a mix of red and black raspberries, fruitcake, pepper, grilled venison, a superb base of soil tones, hickory smoke and a gentle topnote of garrigue. On the palate the wine is deep, complex and full-bodied, with an excellent core of fruit, fine soil signature and grip, suave tannins and impressive length and complexity on the long and impeccably balanced finish. This is better than an awful lot of Châteauneuf du Pape being made today and is a superb deal! It is approachable now, but really deserves a bit of time in the cellar to soften up its tannins a bit." 92 points – John Gilman, The View From The Cellar
Famille Isabel Ferrando Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge
65% Grenache, 20% Cinsault, 10% Mouvèdre 5% Syrah. The estate’s flagship red, from 20 hectares across the Des Serres district and the Saint Préfert lieu-dit. Vines were planted in 1946 and 1976 to galets roules, gravel, blue clay and sandy soils using massale selection. Spontaneous whole-bunch fermentation on skins for three weeks, then ageing in a mix of 600-litre barrels, foudre and amphora. Unfined and unfiltered.
“Grenache for sensuality, Syrah for structure, Mourvèdre for length, Cinsault for its floral lift: the four varieties define this great wine…”
"Based on the same blend of 65% Grenache with lots of Cinsault, the 2023 Châteauneuf Du Pape is gorgeous, showing kirsch, blackberries, sappy spring flowers, pepper, and subtle minerality with an almost scorched earth-like character. Medium to full-bodied, beautifully textured, seamless and layered, it has ultra-fine tannins, integrated acidity, and a great finish. It's another sensationally layered, seamless wine from this estate that would best most Grand Cru Red Burgundies in a blind tasting and reminds me slightly of the 2020. Hide bottles for 4-5 years and enjoy over the following 15 years." 97 points – Jeb Dunnuck
Famille Isabel Ferrando Châteauneuf-du-Pape Rouge ‘Colombis’
“Colombis” has become an iconic wine of Ferrando’s. It’s 100% Grenache that comes from four parcels on the plateau of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with north-facing vineyards: Rayas and Colombis with sandstone and sandy soil, les Roues with a predominately clay soil mixed with granitic galets stones, and le Cristia with a sandy limestone soil. The vines average 80 years-old. Whole-cluster fermented in tronconical wood tanks and aged in neutral demi-muids and amphora for 18 months.
"Enormously deep and concentrated, but this is so subtle and defies easy description. The superfine tannins give this an incredibly fine texture, the richness building in the finish without adding anything to the impression of weight. From three old-vine grenache vineyards that have limestone, sand and galet soils." 98 points – James Suckling
FURTHER READING
https://www.winespectator.com/issues/chateauneufs-isabel-ferrando-033126
https://www.bowlerwine.com/producer/saint-prefert-isabel-ferrando
https://www.winespectator.com/articles/chateauneuf-du-pape-chic-famille-isabel-ferrando-033126
https://letter.hudin.com/p/the-real-isabel-ferrando
https://www.europeancellars.com/chateauneuf-du-pape-a-primer-of-sorts/
