Chateauneuf du Pape is located between Orange and Avignon in France, just at the bottom side of a fortress castle. This village is where you can overlook the Comtat plain and the vast 3 000 hectares of vineyards. The town has almost devoted all itself to the same name world class wine “Chateauneuf du Pape”.

Early in the 14th century, Pope Jean XXII chose the town as the place for his summer retreat. Then he decided to plant vines around the stony area. The intoxicating wine was not well-known until it was authoritatively registered and given the brand Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The wine is produced within strict controls to make sure that all the vineyards output high quality wine.

If you have the chance to visit the small town, be sure to pay a visit to “place de la Fontaine” at the heart of the town. There you will find a lot of wine tasting cellars from different vineyard. If you don’t have a target and just want have some fantastic taste of wine, dazzling wine choices may soon make you drunk. The cellars’ exterior can be diverse, some looks concise while some look luxurious, some are just at the curbside and some are in alleys. However, no matter which cellar do you choose, you get the similar fine wine.

After you recover from drunk, you may go on your town trip through the narrow streets. You can see many pretty fountains including the Souspiron fountain built in the 14th century. You can take a look at the ancient bread oven and olive press, as well as the papal castle constructed by Pope Jean XXII in the 1320s. Go up the stone staircases you get to the fortress, which was heavily damaged by fire during wars. Although there is little structure left including short walls, rooms and the towers, at the ruins you can get a full view of the surrounding places.

On the way out the town, you can find an interesting tiny museum displaying equipments for making wine at the Anselme vineyard. The exhibitions include tools and devices some of which were used in the 16th century, such as wine presses, barrels and cork screws.

Keep going you will find the Romanesque chapel of Saint Théodoric. Here you can join in art exhibitions in the summer.