2013 Clos des Papes Chateauneuf-du-Pape

First Growths. Grands Crus. Clos des Papes.

Bordeaux has its First Growths. Burgundy has its Grands Crus.

The Rhône has a tiny handful of properties at its pinnacle, and Clos des Papes is second to none. The estate has taken home Wine Spectator’s Wine of the Year title, is a “perennial member” of their Top 10, and has been singled out by Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate as “one of the finest producers of Châteauneuf-du-Pape.” High praise, in a category that includes powerhouses like Château de Beaucastel, Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe, and Clos St. Jean.

Our last trip to the Rhône took us into the Clos des Papes cellar, where we scored a first-ever allocation from their library: a tiny cache of bottles from the 2013 vintage. It’s a 94-point tour de force that is still showing its youth, along with cherry liqueur, strawberry preserves, game, earth, and mushroom notes. Now with several years in bottle, this dense, concentrated Châteauneuf-du-Pape is easing into its prime and showing why it stands as the absolute pinnacle of the appellation. 

This is the kind of wine that distinguished Châteauneuf-du-Pape from its peers a century ago, and that made Robert Parker fall in love with the region. Don’t miss this chance to stock your cellar with a bottling from one of the South of France’s marquee producers.

Clos des Papes is one of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s legendary founding estates, dating back to 1896, when Paul Avril first started producing and bottling his wines and selling them out of his cellar door. Avril was instrumental in establishing Châteauneuf-du-Pape as an official appellation in the 1930s—but ironically, even today, the region still lacks an internal classification system like Bordeaux and Burgundy. 

Instead, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is ruled by a handful of estates whose blue-chip status comes not from decree, but from years and years of outstanding production. And Clos des Papes has proven itself consistently and emphatically over a century, inspiring Parker to praise it as  “one of the reference point estates for traditional, age-worthy Châteauneuf du Pape.”

Today the estate is run by Paul-Avril’s great-grandson, Vincent, who sticks to tradition by producing just one flagship wine, rather than a range of luxury cuvées. That means that the estate’s top fruit always goes into that flagship wine, so when you get a bottle of Clos des Papes, you know you are getting their grand vin.  

Planted over 86 acres spread across Clos des Papes 25 parcels, the gnarled vines of Clos des Papes poke out of a thick blanket of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s signature galets roulés, and produce an absurdly small quantity of fruit: just 1.3 tons per acre. Vincent Avril destems the berries—a rare new-world touch that yields a more plush wine—and then ages the wine in large, used wooden foudres.

The result is a pure, powerful, traditional, standard-setting Châteauneuf-du-Pape, year in and year out. Now softening from bottle age, the 2013 is just reaching its peak drinking window, and coming straight from the Clos des Papes cellar, you know it’s been kept in perfect condition. It’s drinking great now, and should last for a good, long stretch in the cellar—especially if you take sock away a magnum or two. We highly recommend it.

• Fruit Intensity
• Oak Intensity
• Body
• Acidity
• Tannin

• ABV 14.00%
• 1 hour
• Drink Up
• % Grenache
• Serving temperature – 58°
• Cork