Description

Clos du Caillou’s stunning Bouquet de Garriges comes from two vineyards, Les Garrigues situated just east of Chateauneuf close to their winery and the other in the village of Coudelet just to the north of the AC. With vines averaging 50 years of age, mostly Grenache with 15% Syrah and 15% Mouvedre, Carignan and Counoise planted on sand and rounded stones on clay.

80% of the wine is fermented in large old oak foudres the remaining 20% undergoes maceration carbonique to enhance the fruit levels and reduce tannins. The result is enticing, powerful and spicy dark fruits with hints of dark chocolate and a long warm finish.

Le Clos du Caillou dates from 1895 when it was a hunting lodge with surrounding forest, situated just outside the northeastern edge of the now Chateauneuf du Pape Appellation. Its strange non-inclusion in the AC is possibly down to the surveyors from the AC being shooed off at gunpoint by gamekeepers when they visited in the early 1936, sadly never to return. The clearing of the forest and planting of vines started in the 1955s by Claude Pouizin, father of the current owner Sylvie Vacheron, who also bought further land inside the Chateauneuf AC It is from this site and a further parcel in Coudelet to the north west where this stunning Côtes de Rhône comes from.