2018 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Les Safres

Owner Sylvie Vacheron’s daughter and son, Marilou and Axel, recently returned after their university years, setting up the next generation at Le Clos du Caillou. Bruno Gaspard has been in charge of winemaking since 2002 here. Le Clos du Caillou’s wines are always seductive on the young side. The forward character of the 2018 vintage provides a perfect showcase for that style. I found the 2018s to be one of the standout lineups of the vintage in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The Réserve sits among the best wines of the year. As for the 2019s, they are even better, with a bit more depth and structure than the 2018s to go along with their massively expressive character and purity of fruit. As seductive as these wines are in their early days, they age remarkably well. A recent bottle of 2001 Les Quartz was a stunner, showing seamless texture, intense red fruit qualities and wonderful persistence. Maybe I need to reassess my drinking windows.

Longtime winemaker Bruno Gaspard and the Vacheron family are producing some of the finest wines in the entire Rhône valley, in the south as well as the north. In fact, it won’t surprise me a bit if they made the best wine of the 2018 vintage in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Their Réserve bottling is one of the most stunning wines that I have ever tasted from barrel in this region. Bruno told me that 2018 was on the low-acid side, “like 2017, in fact” and the low yields of the vintage “translate into real power, but not thickness.” That was proven by the depth and energy of all of the ‘18s here, which I cannot wait to see in bottle, hopefully this coming spring.