A wine to delight popes and presidents

Châteauneuf-du-Pape in the scenic region of Provence is a more recent brand than its prestigious neighbours, but it has built up a stunning reputation among wine lovers

The countryside around Châteauneuf-du-Pape is legendary for its beauty. This is the gateway to Provence, with fields of improbably beautiful lavender everywhere you look or point a camera. The air is warm and perfumed, year-round. The sky is ridiculously blue and the cornfields unworldly yellow, drawing Van Gogh here, as well as Cézanne and Picasso.

So it was that when in 1305, Bertrand de Got, then Bishop of Bordeaux was elected pope he ...