Description
Le Clos du Caillou started out as a hunting preserve in 1895 when Élie Dussaud purchased the property at the northeastern edge of what eventually became the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation, and built a small cellar. However, with his passing four years later, there were no real vineyards to speak of until 1955, when Claude Pouizin purchased the land and cleared some of the forest to plant vines. 1970 marked his first commercial vintage and his wife, Colette, spent the next 26 years as the sales ambassador, establishing Clos du Caillou as a quality Rhône Valley producer worthy of attention. Once Claude was ready to retire, he asked his youngest daughter, Sylvie, who was living in Sancerre with her husband, Jean-Denis Vacheron, to run things. The couple and their two young children left their life in the Loire Valley in 1996 to take Clos du Caillou into the 21st century. Jean-Denis was making the wines yet tragically died in 2002. With a heavy heart, Sylvie soldiered on and hired Rhône specialist, Bruno Gaspard, to take over in the cellar. Bruno has been the winemaker ever since and Sylvie is still in charge today, watching over the domaine's 54 hectares of biodynamically farmed vineyards, certified since 2010.
The estate in Courthézon, in the northeastern part of the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation, boasts a mix of terroirs with a predominance of sand, which gives Caillou wines their silky elegance and fine-grained texture. Part of what makes this blend so special is the fact that the fruit comes from Caillou's Côtes du Rhône vineyards which are actually within the Châteauneuf-du-Pape zone—yet are not technically part of the appellation. This walled parcel of land was intentionally left out of the appellation by the owner, following a “bureaucratic spat” and a story about government officials not being welcome on the land. They apparently were scared away with shotguns when they came to survey the property in 1936 at the time the appellation was created. What this means today is that Caillou’s Côtes du Rhône wines are the qualitatively the same, with regard to terroir and exposition, as top Châteauneuf wines.
A blend of 80% Grenache, 10% Syrah, 6% Mourvèdre, 2% Carignan and 2% Counoise. The grapes were harvested by hand and manually sorted in both the fields and in the cellar, then partially destemmed and fermented on indigenous yeasts in temperature-controlled cement tanks. Aged in a combination of cement tank, stainless-steel tank and older 52HL foudre, and bottled unfined and unfiltered.
Deep ruby robe. Aromas of wild red berries and garrigue. The palate is fresh, with sappy flavors of red currant, strawberry, raspberry and black cherry and a touch of spice. A seamless blend, and artfully balanced all the way through the finish. Concentrated and richly textured, this wine captures the essence of old-vine Grenache grown on the one of region’s finest terroirs.
