The story begins in 1874 when Hyppolite Jourdan renamed the family property of 28 hectares “Clos Chante Cigale”.
In 1936, the appellation Châteauneuf du pape was declared the first AOC of France and the producers of the appellation were structured accordingly. Paul Jourdan was at that time at the head of the family estate and decided to name it “Domaine Chante Cigale”.
Domaine Chante Cigale is now led by Alexandre Favier (nth generation), who perpetuates the tradition and some family secrets with his own personality.
The estate has a vineyard that covers more than 30 hectares in the Châteauneuf du Pape appellation spread over 35 plots, scattered throughout this exceptional terroir: the diversity of soils and grape varieties allows for the development of unique wines. The spirit of the estate is ensured by Alexandre Favier and his team, who take care of each step in the production of the estate’s wines.
The estate is above all a place of family life, in my image and that of its history.
On the property, we have everything necessary to manage a wine farm from A to Z. The winery is equipped with a modern stainless steel vat room, with a cooling system for the harvest, allowing us to control fermentation and preserve the freshness and expression of the fruit.
The wines are then aged in a cellar with different containers, chosen according to the grape varieties, plots and style sought. We work with various oak containers, but also with concrete tanks, concrete eggs, Clayver ceramic containers, as well as clay amphoras. This diversity offers us great freedom in the breeding and allows us to refine each wine with precision, while respecting its identity.
Finally, we also sell our wines directly at the property, thanks to our recently renovated tasting cellar. It is an important place for us, because it allows to meet the amateurs, to exchange, to tell our story and to make discover our wines where they were born.
The estate is thus designed as a coherent whole, where each space has its role, serving the same objective: to produce sincere wines, faithful to their terroir and the family spirit that animates us.
Over the decades, we have planted more and more white grape varieties to meet growing demand. Today, we produce 7 hectares of white wines on a 30-hectare property in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, which remains quite rare in the appellation and is clearly part of our uniqueness.
Another particularity of the estate: it is divided into about forty plots, spread over all the sectors and terroirs of the AOC, which allows us to express all the diversity of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
We have been certified in organic farming since the 2021 vintage, but our approach has always been respectful of nature.
We work the soil and vines according to ancestral practices, taking into account lunar cycles and tides, both in the vineyard and in the winery.