History
2000 years of history
The history of Château Canadel start during Roman times. Before building our new winery in 2014, we carried out a preventive archaeological dig that revealed a real treasure !
The Romans settled in Canadel area as early as the 1er century AD. On the exact site of today's cellar, archaeologists discovered a Roman villa dating back to the 1st century. The remains of a jar and 2 vats attest that wine was already being produced at Canadel in the time of Julius Caesar !
The Roman villa of Canadel was developed in the 2nd century, with the addition of a bread oven and a forge in the following century.
Later on, the estate's lands were alternately owned by the Abbey of Saint-Victor of Marseille and the Counts of Provence until the end of the Middle Ages. The hill was then terraced to grow vines, olives and fruit trees. Underground vaulted tanks used to store water can still be found on the estate.
The 5 bastides from the estate were built one after the other, starting in the 13th century. They are organized like a village around a 15th-century chapel and the canals that gave their name to the estate: "Le Canal d'eau"(water channel), which became Canadeau, then Canadel.
Canadel changed ownership 3 times, and the terraces around the bastides were developed and maintained for the planting of vines and olive trees, as attested by a document of purchase dating from 1683, found in the Castellet village archives: "There are old and new vines as well as a few olive trees (...). The said land is very steep and sloping, supported everywhere by strong, long walls, the upkeep of which is very expensive".
After the phylloxera epidemic that ravaged French vineyards at the end of the 19th century, the estate was reorganized and replanted, thanks to plant exchanges with Bandol's historic estates. Canadel was then owned by a famous English family, who maintained, regrouped and extended the vineyard, with the invaluable help of the Calussi family, who worked in the vines. We are in 1960s, and the grapes were sold to the Ott estates.
In 2007, Jacques and Caroline de Chateauvieux fell in love with this "paradise on earth" and bought the estate with the aim of producing Château Canadel wine, and establishing their family here on their return from La Réunion. They are renovating the estate's bastides, while preserving its Provencal charm.
In 2009, they give the lead of the estate to their daughter, Laure Benoist, an agricultural engineer, and her husband Vianney, an agronomist and oenologist. The transition with Alain and Patrick, the former winegrowers, is going smoothly. They share their knowledge, learned from their fathers, as well as the traditions and particularities of each plot.
At the same time, Vianney spent 2 years training at SupAgro in Montpellier and Enita in Bordeaux. In 2010 and 2012, he acquired solid know-how during an internship at Domaine Tempier, where he made 2 wines.
The cellar was built at the bottom of the estate, on a small plot of vines where we find time to time pieces of tile dating back from the Roman times. The services of the Institut National de l'Archéologie Préventive (INRAP) are called in for a preventive excavation, during which remains are unearthed.
The more extensive excavations are being carried out by the "Centre Archéologique" from the Var, and will last 5 months, contributing to the discovery of a Roman villa dating from the first century.
With the 2013 harvest in full swing, the first stones of the new winery have been laid. The construction work will take a year to be completed.
7 years after the purchase of the estate, the Château Canadel cellar is ready for the first harvest.
"For a first vintage, it's a masterstroke", write the headline of an article in the famous "Revue des Vins de France"
The second vintage we made, our Bandol Rosé 2015 was awarded with the title of world's best rosé, by the famous Decanter magazine.
Many awards will follow, that you can find "Here"
