2020 Le Clos du Caillou Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
A blend of 60% Grenache and 40% Mourvèdre from sandy parcels in Guigasse and Pignan, the 2020 Chateauneuf du Pape La Reserve is a stupendous wine, even if it didn't quite reach the triple-digit heights I hoped it would when tasted out of barrel. Complex notes of crushed stone, pressed flowers, intricate herbal shadings and mixed berries mark the nose, while the full-bodied palate is unimaginably silky and near-endless on the finish.
Critic scores
James Lawther MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
More reviews and scores
Lastly, the 2020 Châteauneuf Du Pape La Reserve is another wine that doesn't live up to the barrel review. Revealing a translucent ruby hue as well as a perfumed nose of mulled strawberries, dried earth, Provençal herbs, and flowers, it hits the palate with medium to full-bodied richness, fine tannins, and an elegant, seamless profile. Let's hope this puts on weight with 2-3 years of bottle age. I found too many of these 2020s from Le Clos du Caillou to be surprisingly light in color and lacking in concentration.
Cask sample. Huge intensity of burgundian red-berry fruit. Explodes on the palate. Layers of fruit with oh-so-fine tannins and amazing freshness and length on the finish. Real persistence aromatically. Powerful but elegant and restrained. Huge potential for ageing. (JL)