Description
Le Clos du Caillou, “Cuvée Unique” Vieilles Vignes
If you’re new around here, allow me to echo the collective voice of our loyal following: this luscious, full-bodied red is among the greatest values in all of France. Unfortunately, we missed last year’s vintage so our “regulars” are beyond eager to secure a case—I expect them to stop reading here and take their share. For everyone else…
Do you see “Cuvée Unique” running diagonally across the label’s upper-left corner? That’s the “clue” telling us local winemaking legend Bruno Gaspard has selected a handful of top-performing barrels for his longtime boutique importer. As for the raw material? It hails from old parcels that actually qualified for Châteauneuf-du-Pape status during the first AOC classification in 1936. The fact that they weren’t codified (more on that below) makes today’s epic red powerhouse all the more alluring. Now, sprinkle in organically farmed fruit, aging in traditional foudres, and a $29 price tag, and this is the single-greatest Rhône value we offer. So, please, ignore the pedestrian “Côtes du Rhône” label: geographically, stylistically, texturally—this is Châteauneuf for half the price!
Clos du Caillou is located in Courthézon, a village within the Châteauneuf-du-Pape growing zone, and we always enjoy sharing its “stay off my lawn” origin story: In 1936, 40 years after the property was established as a hunting lodge, France’s AOC governing body approached Caillou’s then-owner with the intention of incorporating it into the ‘new’ Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation. The officials were met with armed resistance—Caillou’s owner had no desire to join the governing ranks of anything, let alone a wine appellation. This brazen act originally excluded the estate from the AOC and essentially carved out a sizable chunk of CDP’s border. Today, it continues to be an ‘unclassified’ section in what is otherwise some of the most prized vineyard land in the area.
About 20 years after “the lawn altercation,” Clos du Caillou was purchased by the Pouizin family, who stowed the guns, started planting vines, and began making wine. Over the next four decades, Claude Pouizin made Les Clos du Caillou a household name for premier Châteauneuf-du-Pape. In 1996, the youngest of his three daughters, Sylvie, inherited the operations. At the time, she was living in Sancerre with her husband, Jean-Denis Vacheron (a family making some of the Loire’s finest wines). After the tragic passing of Jean-Denis in 2002, Sylvie pushed forward and maintained the estate’s legacy with the help of lead winemaker Bruno Gaspard.
Driven by Grenache grown in the pebbly, sandy soils of the zone, “Cuvée Unique” is a special Côte du Rhône selection created each year from premium old-vine lots and, subsequently, the best batches in the winery. The 2020 release is a blend of 75% Grenache with splashes of Syrah, Carignan, and Mourvèdre that naturally fermented, 25% whole cluster, in stainless steel tanks. Upon completion, the resulting wine aged for just under one year months in neutral, 52-hectoliter foudres. To enhance purity and terroir expression, the final wine was bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Because it’s led by high-quality, old-vine, CDP-equivalent Grenache and priced below $30, we geek out over this wine year in and year out. It fires out of the glass with explosive, luxurious aromas like raspberry liqueur, plum pie, Bing cherry, redcurrant, and red licorice. However, a great deal of savory/earthy components lie just underneath that rich wall of primary fruit: garrigue, baked clay, exotic spice, rose water, and wild thyme. The full-bodied palate is a trifecta of unabashed richness, polish, and refreshment; an opulent tour de force that expertly sidesteps palate saturation and fatigue. In short, it’s a pure, hedonistic snapshot of the Southern Rhône. Enjoy now until 2025.
