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Le Clos du Caillou Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge La Reserve 2019  - First Bottle

Reviews

100 Jeb Dunnuck -
Lastly, and a perfect wine, the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Reserve is a 60/40 split of Grenache and Mourvèdre that’s brought up in demi-muids. It shows the vintage’s ripe, sexy, yet also concentrated and powerful style, offering full-bodied aromas and flavors of red and blue fruits, Provençal herbs, pepper, and violets. Possessing sensational elegance, perfect balance, and ripe, polished tannins, it’s always the more aristocratic, classy, seamless wine compared to the more exuberant, overflowing with character Les Quartz release. This matches the otherworldly 2001, 2007, 2010, and 2016.
98 Decanter -
Captivating spice-led nose, this is a lithe, dynamic and athletic style of Ch?teauneuf. Very well balanced and focused with great aromatic precision. The alcohol is gently warming on the finish but this is nonetheless just gorgeous. Grown on sand in lieux-dits La Guigasse and Pignan, destemmed, fermented in tronconic vats then matured mostly in demi-muid and a 10% portion in amphora for 14 months.
95-97+ Robert Parker's Wine Advocate -
The 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape La Reserve is a full-bodied, velvety-textured wine loaded with dark fruit. Predomiantly black cherries, but with hints of licorice and dark chocolate, it's ripe, rich and clearly loaded with potential—but does it come across as slightly overdone when compared to some of the mythic vintages of this wine, or will it gain elegance during the rest of its elevage?
96 Vinous -
Vivid ruby. A highly perfumed bouquet displays ripe red/blue fruit liqueur qualities along with suggestions of exotic spices, potpourri and smoky minerals. Densely packed and broad on the palate, offering alluringly sweet boysenberry, cherry compote, lavender and fruitcake flavors that show superb delineation and a supporting undercurrent of juicy acidity. Delivers outstanding clarity and a hint of game on a sweet, youthfully chewy, extremely long finish shaped by dusty, slow-building tannins.
95 Wine Spectator -
Fresh and very pure, with a racy-edged set of cassis, bitter cherry and rooibos tea notes streaming through, supported underneath by very fine chalky minerality and dried garrigue accents. Features a nice echo of anise at the every end, as the fruit and savory elements sail through in harmony. Very stylish. Grenache and Syrah. Best from 2023 through 2038. 500 cases made, 75 cases imported.

Technical Details

  • Blend55% Grenache and 45% Mourvedre
  • WinemakerBruno Gaspard
  • CountryFrance
  • RegionRhone Valley
  • AppellationChateauneuf-du-Pape
  • VineyardLa Guigasse and Pignan
  • Aging/Cooperage88% in older demi-muid (600L) and 12% in clay amphorae for 14 months.
  • Alcohol14.5%

Le Clos du Caillou Chateauneuf du Pape Rouge La Reserve 2019

Rhone Blends  |  France
JD100, D98, WA97, VN96, WS95

Too late, we are SOLD OUT!
We have but 36 bottles of the newly minted 100-point Clos du Caillou Reserve, a wine that we treasure and covet every release. We didn't get nearly as much as well had hoped but we are excited to have a few to offer. This wine has really hit its stride in recent years, with less new oak in the mix and the addition of some amphora aging which gives this large-scaled wine a sense of freshness and overall balance that in some ripe years can be over-the-top. This is an excellent rendition of a legendary wine. Bravo to winemaker Bruno Gaspard for nailing this one.

About the Producer

The Clos du Caillou was founded in 1895 when Elie Dussaud settled there and created an old cellar. It started as a hunting preserve and this history ironically led to its exclusion from the Chateauneuf-du-Pape appellation upon its creation in the 1930's. IN 1996, Sylvie Vacheron and her husband, Jean-Denis Vacheron, decided to leave Sancerre terroirs for a huge challenge : take over the vineyard Le Clos du Caillou and produce great wines. Jean-Denis has very high ambition for the vineyard. He is determined to produce wines that suits him, free of any diktat. He like the finesse, the elegance, the Burgundy style.