The vineyards are covered with large stones and these stones absorb heat during the day and then radiate it over the night, to the benefit of the grapes. 

The presence of clay underneath the stones mixed with sandy limestone provides a source of humidity for the vines. 

This type of soil is locally known as “safres” and tends to bring a supple texture and soft tannins to the wine.

The youngest planted are thirty years old vines and the oldest ones are one hundred twenty years old, the average is about seventy years old vines.

Old vines have deep roots that allow them to resist the heat in summer. 

The local wind, the Mistral, is fierce and constantly blowing through the vineyards, greatly reducing humidity.

These are ideal conditions to practice Agriculture Raisonne limiting the use of pesticides. Nathalie leaves the weeds in the rows to protect from erosion.

Unusually she doesn’t any oak; “We want to know what the terroir tastes like. Every plot is different and we want to taste it.” Each vineyard plot is vinified separately, as are the different grapes (though they mostly grow Grenache). Fermentation takes place in steel, and aging in cement before bottling.

Nathalie Reynaud took over the family estate which dates back to the 1880s when the first parcel was planted by her great-grandfather near Chateau Rayas, by the lieu-dit “Les Bedines” which was classified in 1936 with the first appellation-controlled map drawing of Chateauneuf du Pape. The 40 acres vineyard has been managed by the Reynaud family over five generations, but the grapes were historically sold to local negociant houses. In 2012, Nathalie started to produce her own bottling under the label Chateauneuf du Pape label “’Abbé Dine”. Nathalie explained that “back in the day, during the religious wars, soldiers came to make sure the local abbot wasn’t celebrating mass and the story goes that the nuns told the soldiers ‘go away, he’s having his dinner.'” – “ l’Abbe dîne.” Or, the plot’s name may have just been a corruption of Les Bedines, which refers to bedines, the smaller red pebbles that are part of the rocky soils of the region. Nathalie studied estate management and worked at several estates, including the iconic Vieux Telegraphe.