The Paumel family owns a 2 hectare parcel of 100+ year old Grenache vines on the gentle hill (or Mourre du Tendre), that is also the site of Chateau Rayas. In fact, these old vines touch those of Rayas, in the famous lieu-dit "La Crau". The vines yield only about a ton and a half to the acre and every year reach phenomenal ripeness. Jacques Paumel’s is a Chateauneuf of days gone by – immense, backward, and brooding; it needs years of elevage (the wines are not bottled until four years after the vintage) and then hold incredibly in bottle. At ten years of age they have the brilliant deep red color of a wine just bottled. The only two wines from Chateauneuf in this style are Henri Bonneau, and, of course, Paumel’s neighbor, Chateau Rayas.

Jacques also make a Cotes du Rhone Villages, from 85 year old vines across the Autoroute from Beaucastel, in size, structure, and length better than most Chateauneufs. A third cuvee is their delightful Cotes du Rhone in a rich, ripe gourmande style that still evidences the sweet kirsch liqueur character, as Robert Parker describes it, that is a recurring theme in all of their wines which, of course, are bottled unfiltered.