Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape "Les Quartz" Rouge 2017
About the wine:
2017 VINTAGE : An exceptionally premature and confidential harvest
2017 Vintage engendered climatic records which caused a particularly premature harvest with the beginning of the harvest on August 18th, with ourwhite grapes. It’s also one of the smallest harvests of these last forty years,with average yields, around 19 hl/ha. This is mainly due to important“Coulure” phenomena and significant hydric deficit.
Despite these extreme conditions, our old vines did not suffer too much permitting to produce wines with a very good balance, beautiful fruit, freshness and silky tannins.
Whites have superb freshness, with beautiful elegance and great complexity.
SOILS CHARACTERISTICS:
Sandy soil composed with round polished stones on the surface, located on the name place "Les Cassanets".
BLEND :
75% Grenache - 25% Syrah
VINIFICATION :
Harvest started on August 28th for Syrah and on September 7th for Grenache.
Hand-picking with sorting in the vineyard and then in cellar. De-stemming (100%) and fermented separately in wooden tanks for Syrah and in concrete tank for Grenache, with wild yeasts.
Pump-over, manual punch-down and delestages are made during all thegrape maceration (32 days).
AGEING :
90% in demi-muids (600L) (2 to 9 wines) and 10% in terracotta amphora (500L) for 14 months.
WINEMAKER TASTING NOTES:
This wine has a beautiful deep Bismarck red color with Vermeil reflections. The nose is nice, expressive on complex aromas of orange peel, wood strawberries associated with curcuma notes. The palate is dense with pretty structured tannins where we find notes of dark fruit compote associated with cloves, black pepper, Sichuan berries and Bourbon vanilla. A beautiful long-keeping wine that will accompany perfectly your festive dishes.
Pairing:
Deer in Grand Veneur sauce – Fricassee of Scotland wild grouses – Wild duck pie – Artichokes gratin with wild mushrooms.
About the producer:
Caillou wines are Rhône blends at their most intense. The wines stand out with their concentrated flavors, which are mouth-filling yet balanced. Other regional wineries try to achieve this balance, yet wind up with cloying, heavy wines with muted flavors.
Importantly, Caillou’s Côtes du Rhône vineyards are essentially the same, in terroir and exposition, as its Châteauneuf vineyards. This fact not only sets the estate’s wines above its peers in the region -- but also shows the high quality of our Rhône selections here, from top to bottom.
The focus on old-vine Grenache as the cornerstone of Caillou’s red blends showcases Grenache’s raspberry and red plum flavors. Warming yet never heavy, the wines share the signature southern Rhône aromas of lavender and incense.