2017 Coteaux du Languedoc La Clape Porte du Ciel
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
Despite a massive list of dessert-sounding descriptors—blackberries, vanilla, baking spices, blueberries, licorice—the 2017 La Clape La Porte du Ciel is a dry, savory wine loaded with character. A big, rich, Syrah-based offering that spent two years in new French oak, it's full-bodied and velvety in texture—and surprisingly easy to drink considering its size and power, finishing with an almost saline note and incredible length.
Critic scores
Average Score
Tamlyn Currin, jancisrobinson.com
Jeb Dunnuck
More reviews and scores
Coming from the La Clape region of the Languedoc, which is just outside the village of Narbone, the 2017 Porte du Ciel is a much more plush, sexy wine than the Clos des Truffiers at this point and offers a heavenly, full-bodied, seamless style that’s impossible to resist. Dense purple-hued, with awesome notes of crème de cassis, green tobacco, iodine, espresso roast, ground pepper, and violets, it has a remarkable sense of purity, flawless balance, low acidity (I suspect the pH here is substantially higher than the Clos de Truffiers), ripe tannins, and a great finish. Despite its opulence and low acidity, it will evolve positively for two decades or more. It is a singular, awesome Syrah!
NHB. The colour of dark blood. Smells like sticky, dark, still-bubbling-on-the-stove strawberry jam. Intense and massively sweet and just plain massive. Big big big. Hedonistic. Brocade and velvet and cherry chocolate. So much alcohol. But if you’re up for that kind of wine, it will seduce. (TC)