Wine Advocate # 145
Feb 2003
Robert Parker 99
Drink: 2003 - 2020
Possibly the wine of the vintage is the 2000 Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve Le Clos du Cailloux. I tasted this wine four times from bottle, and it has blown away some tough competition. A wealth of fruit, power, and balance, amazing purity, and a sumptuous, 65-second finish are the stuff of legends. As usual, it is a blend of 45% Grenache, 40% Mourvedre, and the rest Syrah as well as miscellaneous varietals. The Mourvedre must be picked incredibly ripe as there is never any of that grape's astringency or toughness. However, being an anti-oxidant varietal, I am sure this is a sign of how much aging potential these wines possess. This is an enormous, well-delineated, superb wine. Anticipated maturity: now-2020+.
Readers lucky enough to find any should not hesitate to buy as much as they can of the flagship wine, the Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve Le Clos du Cailloux. Over the last four years, every vintage has flirted with perfection.
Year after year, this estate continues to produce some of the finest Chateauneuf du Papes and Cotes du Rhones. Widow Sylvie Vacheron has done an excellent job carrying on the legacy of her husband, Jean-Denis Vacheron, who was killed in an automobile accident several years ago. Both vintages of Chateauneuf du Pape are performing brilliantly, with the 2006s showing even better from bottle than they did from barrel, and the 2007s are as stunning as one might expect in this historical vintage in the southern Rhone. (Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate, Oct 2008)
Année après année, ce domaine continue de produire parmi les meilleurs Châteauneuf-du-Pape et Côtes du Rhône. La veuve Sylvie Vacheron a fait un travail remarquable en poursuivant l'héritage de son mari, Jean-Denis Vacheron, tué dans un accident de voiture il y a plusieurs années. Les deux millésimes du Châteauneuf-du-Pape sont superbes, avec le 2006 se révélant encore mieux en bouteille qu'en barrique et le 2007 aussi étonnant que l'on puisse l'espérer de ce millésime historique du Rhône méridional. (Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate, Oct 2008)