Jean-Paul carries on the tradition established by his father Paul Autard when he founded the domaine in the village of Courthezon in the 1970s. Autard has 26 hectares of vines, of which 12 are in Chateauneuf du Pape and 14 in Cotes du Rhone. He feels privileged to have inherited a domaine in which the plantations of different cepages are perfectly adapted to the soil types -- ranging from gallets roulets, pebbles and clay, and sandy-clay -- in their various parcels. He aims to get the most out of each variety by vinifying separately and then blending judiciously. The grapes are destalked and fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks.  After the malolactic fermentation, the wines are transferred to stainless steel tanks (for the Cotes du Rhone) or barriques for aging of the Chateauneufs, about one third of which are new for the “normale” cuvee, and 100% new for the Cuvee La Cote Ronde. Beginning with the 2004 vintage, Jean-Paul is working in his new state-of-the-art new winery, which allows him greatly enhanced control over all phases of winemaking, and a concomitant increase in quality. 

The Cotes du Rhone is an excitingly fruity wine, made from 85% Grenache and 15% Syrah grapes just outside the Chateauneuf du Pape appellation in Courthezon. It is a smoky, complex wine loaded with warm raspberry fruit, showing many of the best attributes of Chateauneuf du Pape. It is ready for current drinking on release in the Fall and represents one of the best values from the southern Rhone.  Autard’s Chateauneuf du Pape is a concentrated, supple, and balanced wine. A blend of 70% Grenache, 15% Syrah and 15% Counoise, it is brimming with dark berry fruit and notes of black pepper and dark chocolate. The wine offers a terrific bouquet and flavors of spices and cherry and berry jam. The sweet tannins and fat mid-palate culminate in a dense and powerful but elegant finish. Autard’s top wine, the Chateauneuf du Pape Cuvee  La Cote Ronde comes from a parcel of vines that are between 75 and 90 years old, planted in a stony soil. The grape mix is 50% Grenache and 50% Syrah. The Cote Ronde parcel is vinified separately and is aged in 100% new oak barrels. It is an intensely concentrated, lush-textured wine with vivid dark fruit, spice, chocolate and oak flavors. The international wine press has consistently given the Autard’s Cote Ronde the very highest ratings since its inception. This is a serious, concentrated, muscular Chateauneuf du Pape that repays at least 3-5 years of aging before consumption.

 The 2006 vintage marks the debut release of Autard’s highly personal and original Chateauneuf du Pape Juline. Named for his two children,Jules and Pauline,  it is a blend of 50% Syrah from 55-year-old vines on a parcel with sandy soil and 50% Grenache from 80-year-old vines from a parcel with "galets roules" (the  famed round stones) and sand. The  Juline fruit is macerated, fermented, and matured entirely in new, medium toast Seguin-Moreau barrels (each made from oak of diverse origins), with one side removed.  The fruit is placed directly in the vertically positioned casks and given a 30 day maceration period in these barrels with daily pigeage (pushing down of the solids into the juice) by hand. The cepages are vinified separately. At the end of the maceration period, the wine is transferred to a tank for two days and  the solids are pressed. During this two-day period, the barrel maker comes to the Autard winery to replace the sides of the barrels. The juice is  then returned to the barrels (now placed horizontally) and the wine finishes its alcoholic and malolactic fermentation and matures  in these same barrels over a period of 16 months.  Four days before bottling, the Grenache and Syrah are assembled in a tank, fined, and bottled without filtration.  Autard produced 2000 bottles of Juline in 2006. Tasting a barrel sample about half-way in the course of elevage, Parker commented in October 2007: “With full body, huge glycerin, great richness and depth, this is a stunner and certainly looks to be one of the top dozen or so wines of the 2006 vintage. (92-94).