Château Revelette

Appellation: Coteaux d'Aix en Provence

Proprietor : Sandra & Peter Fischer

Year Founded: 1950

Size: 24 hectares

Farming Practice: Biodynamic

Provence’s Wild Edge

On the north flank of Provence’s most famous mountain, Château Revelette has turned an iffy proposition into a unique advantage.

With all due respect to Mount Fuji, no peak has a more iconic place in art history than Provence’s Mont Sainte-Victoire. Paul Cézanne immortalized the towering limestone ridge in 36 paintings and 45 watercolors, imprinting it in the imaginations of millions of museum goers. You can probably envision it now: its steep south face looming over the Arc Valley, whose farms unfurl towards the Mediterranean coast in the painter’s distinctive post-Impressionistic geometries. But there’s another side of Sainte-Victoire that Cezanne never painted—the northern flank, wooded and wild and freezing in winter—and it was in those foothills that Peter Fischer set out against all odds to make wine in 1985.

When the young German turned up in the small commune of Jouques with an eye toward bottling age-worthy wine near the northern edge of the Aix-en-Provence appellation, locals broke out in amused smiles. Good luck reaching 10 or 11 percent alcohol, they said. The heavily wooded Revelette property whose calcareous and clayey soils attracted Fischer was surrounded by mountains: Saint-Victoire to the south, Vautubiere to the east, Concors to west. Cold air slides down from the Alps at night, filling this bowl with a chill not usually associated with Provence.

But Fischer planted early-ripening Chardonnay as well as Grenache, launching a 40-year journey that’s been marked by far-sighted ambition and a deep respect for this unique terroir. Today Revelette counts 30 hectares of vines: 11 varietals spread between 17 distinct plots enclosed by 170 hectares of woodland. Perched between 330 and 400 meters, with varying expositions, the vineyards enjoy something truly rare in Provence: a Continental climate. Winters are cold and harsh, while summers offer singeing daytime highs that plunge upwards of 30 degrees overnight when that Alpine air backs up against Sainte-Victoire.

The warming climate has long banished fears of low alcohol levels, while Revelette’s fortuitous positioning continues to imbue its overachieving rosé with a lip-smacking acidity that energizes its densely contoured texture. And Peter has transmitted 40 years’ worth of hard-won knowledge to the next generation: Hugo and Clara, who’ve inherited one of the most forward-thinking legacies in Provence. The estate has been organic since 1990, and biodynamic for almost as long. After an early and short-lived infatuation with new oak, Fischer was one of the first winemakers to experiment with concrete eggs, which continue to play an important role alongside neutral barrels, foudre, and stainless steel to emphasize the fruit’s purity and freshness. Every plot is tended and harvested entirely by hand and vinified separately.

It may be a little counterintuitive, but Revelette’s atypical (for Provence) dedication to red and white cuvées is a big part of what elevates its rosé. From 40-year-old Grenache to diverse plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault, Carignan, and Ugni Blanc, the Fischers have a lot of riches to work with. They craft their rosé entirely from free-run juice, and shepherd it through a partial malolactic fermentation to evoke the vibrancy of this special spot.

Make no mistake, however: this remains a challenging place to make wine. The narrow, winding road to this almost-hidden estate is not for the faint-hearted—and a tour of the vineyards in Hugo’s straining 4×4 pickup might make you wish you’d booked a chiropractor in advance. “Every two or three seasons, something happens,” he told us as we bounced over the rocky terrain the last time we visited. “This year it was frost. Last year it was drought. The year before that, a wild boar ate almost all the Cabernet in this vineyard.”

So they keep living and learning—nurturing their deep-rooted old vines, planting new ones on north-facing slopes, celebrating the arrival of four wolf pups to go after the grape-loving sangliers. And showing a side of Provençal wine well-worth discovering.