2020 Le Clos du Caillou "Les Quartz" Cotes du Rhone, Rhone Valley, France
Regular price $45.00
Unit price per
85% Grenache, 15% Syrah
Wines from Le Clos du Caillou are Rhône blends at their most intense. Concentrated and richly textured, these organically raised, older-vine wines capture the spice and silk of old-vine Grenache grown on the region’s finest terroirs. Each wine too reflects the native perfumes of the south, the “garrigue” blend of thyme, rosemary and lavender that grows wild among the estate’s vines.
Of all the terroir in the Côtes du Rhône appellation, the “clos” of Caillou has to be one of the most exceptional. Completely surrounded by Châteauneuf-du-Pape vineyards, this walled parcel of land was intentionally left out of the appellation by the owner, following a bureaucratic spat back in 1936. 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.
The Les Quartz bottling is a mix of estate vineyards within the estate’s “clos” or stone walls, with large quartz stones (galets roulés) on the surface and sandy subsoils. These 50 yr old vines are hand-harvested, destemmed and fermented with indigenous yeasts in cement. then aged for 14 months in older French oak.
Aromas of black cherry, raspberry with crushed stone and graphite. Juicy and textured, mouth-coating; flavors of black cherry, black plum, licorice and cocoa nibs.