Le Clos du Caillou - Chateauneuf du Pape La Reserve 2019 (750ml)
Price: $209.99
| Producer | Le Clos du Caillou |
| Country | France |
| Region | Rhône Valley |
| Varietal | Grenache, Mourvèdre |
| Vintage | 2019 |
| Sku | 62330 |
| Size | 750ml |
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Le Clos du Caillou Description
Wines from Le Clos du Caillou are Rhône blends at their most intense. Concentrated and richly textured, these organically raised wines capture the spice of older-vine Grenache as grown on the region’s finest terroirs. The estate in Courthézon, in the northeastern part of the Châteauneuf-duPape appellation, boasts a mix of terroirs with a predominance of sand, which gives Caillou wines their silky elegance and fine-grained texture. The estate has been practicing biodynamic viticulture since 2003, and was certified organic in 2010. Caillou’s devotion to the character of the land (through bottling wines according to terroir) and its dedication to natural viticulture has only intensified over the years; this is what makes Caillou one of the leading estates in the southern Rhône.
A blockbuster wine, in spirit as heady and concentrated as its “bigger” brother grown on the “other” side of the estate’s “clos” or vineyard stone walls. Sandy soils give this blend of Grenache and Mourvedre a supple texture; blackberries, plums, wild strawberries.
Wine Advocate: 97+ Points
I tasted two bottles of the 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape La Reserve at the domaine. While it doesn't exhibit the knockout florals and intricate complexity of the 2020 version, it's still a wonderfully rich, decadent wine. Super ripe and dark-fruited, it offers up scents of cola, black cherries and blackberries on the nose, is full-bodied, concentrated and velvety on the palate, then finishes long and dusty, with notes of dark chocolate joining the mix. A second bottle showed more red fruit notes and lacked the chocolaty finish, while seeming a bit fresher and firmer. The rating represents a composite score; I wouldn't turn down a glass of either one.
Vinous: 96 Points
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.
