Clos du Caillou Chateauneuf-du-Pape Les Safres 2015
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A big step up over the base cuvée, the deeper, more purple-hued 2015 Châteauneuf du Pape Les Safres offers a downright smorgasbord of Provençal herbs, spices, wild strawberries, garrigue, and black cherry aromas and flavors. About as seamless and sexy as they come, with full-bodied richness and building tannin, as well as incredible purity, I just hope it shows this well from bottle! Barrel Sample: 93-95
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Wine Spectator
Ripe and racy, showing delicious raspberry, red currant and boysenberry coulis flavors from start to finish, with mouthwatering acidity and racy graphite notes. Lovely black tea and wood spice aromas on the finish. Best from 2019 through 2040.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The 2015 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Safres is deeper and richer than the base cuvée and possesses terrific notes of black raspberries, blackberry jam, exotic flower, and orange blossom. Full-bodied, polished, elegant and gorgeously pure on the palate, with fine tannin, it's a killer wine. Made from 95% Grenache (the balance is Mourvèdre, Cinsault, and Vaccarèse), it too has a decade and more of prime drinking.
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James Suckling
Named for the compacted sandy soils from where it hails, this wine has a thread of dark, briary blackberry and dark plum fruits. The palate carries deep yet supple tannins. Extremely approachable.
Other Vintages
2020-
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—Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate
From robust Côtes-du-Rhône to memorable Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Clos du Caillou wines arguably represent some of the finest values in all of France. Proprietor Sylvie Vacheron and winemaker Bruno Gaspard are keeping the great work of the late Jean-Denis Vacheron alive with wines that are heady, robust and mouth-wateringly lush.
Caillou tends wonderfully old Grenache vines, some of which are 70 to 100 years old. With older Syrah and Mourvèdre added to the mix, it’s no wonder that Caillou wines are across the board impressive for their power, extract and deep minerality. The estate’s Chateauneuf terroir borders the impressive domaines of Chateau Rayas and Beaucastel.
Yet many of the Vacheron-Pouizin family's old vines are classified, by a quirk of 1923 politics, Côtes-du-Rhône and Côtes-du-Rhône-Villages. It’s why our Côtes-du-Rhône barrel selections show surprisingly like its kin in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.
In 1996 Jean-Denis Vacheron took full control of the viticulture and élévage at this estate. Under his stewardship, the wines of Caillou steadily gained stature, and today are benchmarks for the appellation. He understood that temperature-controlled fermentation and a cool, clean cellar are necessary to craft wines with refinement and true complexity.
With bold fruit flavors and accents of sweet spice, Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre form the base of the classic Rhône Red Blend, while Carignan, Cinsault and Counoise often come in to play. Though they originated from France’s southern Rhône Valley, with some creative interpretation, Rhône blends have also become popular in other countries. Somm Secret—Putting their own local spin on the Rhône Red Blend, those from Priorat often include Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. In California, it is not uncommon to see Petite Sirah make an appearance.
Famous for its full-bodied, seductive and spicy reds with flavor and aroma characteristics reminiscent of black cherry, baked raspberry, garrigue, olive tapenade, lavender and baking spice, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the leading sub-appellation of the southern Rhône River Valley. Large pebbles resembling river rocks, called "galets" in French, dominate most of the terrain. The stones hold heat and reflect it back up to the low-lying gobelet-trained vines. Though the galets are typical, they are not prominent in every vineyard. Chateau Rayas is the most obvious deviation with very sandy soil.
According to law, eighteen grape varieties are allowed in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and most wines are blends of some mix of these. For reds, Grenache is the star player with Mourvedre and Syrah coming typically second. Others used include Cinsault, Counoise and occasionally Muscardin, Vaccarèse, Picquepoul Noir and Terret Noir.
Only about 6-7% of wine from Châteauneuf-du-Pape is white wine. Blends and single-varietal bottlings are typically based on the soft and floral Grenache Blanc but Clairette, Bourboulenc and Roussanne are grown with some significance.
The wine of Chateauneuf-du-Pape takes its name from the relocation of the papal court to Avignon. The lore says that after moving in 1309, Pope Clément V (after whom Chateau Pape-Clément in Pessac-Léognan is named) ordered that vines were planted. But it was actually his successor, John XXII, who established the vineyards. The name however, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, translated as "the pope's new castle," didn’t really stick until the 19th century.