{"id":2333,"date":"2023-03-30T17:46:43","date_gmt":"2023-03-30T17:46:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2333"},"modified":"2023-03-30T19:39:36","modified_gmt":"2023-03-30T19:39:36","slug":"domaine-le-clos-des-cazaux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2333","title":{"rendered":"Domaine le Clos des Cazaux"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the village of Vacqueyras<\/a>, just beyond the center of town, there is a winery that we have visited several times when we have been in the Southern Rh\u00f4ne.\u00a0 The first time, it was highly recommended by the hotel where we were staying so we headed there after lunch in the village.\u00a0 The rest of the story belongs in the Experiences section of Power Tasting<\/em> as much as in Wineries, but it is also instructive about Clos des Cazaux.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The vines of Clos de Cazaux, just outside the village of Vacqueyras.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Kysela Pere et Fils. <\/em><\/p>\n

Over 20 years ago\u2026as we parked, a petite elderly woman came out to greet us.<\/p>\n

Elderly Woman: Bonjour, Monsieur.\u00a0 Bonjour, Madame.<\/p>\n

All the rest of the conversation was also in French, so we\u2019ll translate from here on.<\/em><\/p>\n

EW: A taste of my wines, perhaps?<\/p>\n

Power Tasting: Of course, that\u2019s why we\u2019re here.<\/p>\n

EW: Please enter my cave<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The cave was little more than a shed.\u00a0 Inside was a shelf with four bottles of red wine.\u00a0 Clos de Cazaux makes more wines than that today.<\/em><\/p>\n

EW: There are two Vacqueyras and two Gigondas.<\/p>\n

This is a relevant point.\u00a0 Many of the Vacqueyras wineries own parcels of land both in that village and in the neighboring hamlet of Gigondas.\u00a0 Although they are as close together as uptown and downtown in a city, the elevation and soil conditions in the two are substantially different.<\/em><\/p>\n

EW: The two Vacqueyras wines and one of the Gigondas are traditional, a blend of Grenache and Syrah.\u00a0 The other is pure Syrah, pour les anglais<\/em> (for the English).<\/p>\n

PT: (to ourselves) Oh, she means us!<\/p>\n

And that says a lot about Clos de Cazaux and the Vacqueyras <\/em>vignerons in general.\u00a0 While they can be innovative in their winemaking, the winemakers of Vacqueyras are tightly wedded to tradition.\u00a0 Still, they try to please, even us <\/em>anglais.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A Templar, with the Dentelles de Montmirail in the background.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of the winery.<\/em><\/p>\n

That wine that was made just for us was and is called the Cuv\u00e9e des Templiers (or Templars, in English, who were freebooting soldiers who fought for and occupied the Holy Lands during the Crusades.\u00a0 It is no longer just Syrah, but having tasted it again in ensuing years, it\u2019s still our favorite from this winery.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Clos des Cazaux vineyards. Photo courtesy of\u00a0the winery.<\/em><\/p>\n

As then, Clos des Cazaux makes wine from grapes of both Vacqueyras and Gigondas.\u00a0 There are whites and a few ros\u00e9s, but most of their wines are reds.\u00a0 The whites are predominantly Clairette from vines the elderly woman might have planted in her youth.\u00a0 The reds are mostly Grenache, Syrah and some Mourv\u00e8dre.\u00a0 There are a few interesting exceptions, including a pure Grenache from Gigondas (maybe the anglais<\/em> have changed their tastes).\u00a0 There\u2019s also a wine they call Grenat Noble, which is a Grenache, with 30% of the grapes having been infected with botrytis, the Noble Rot, that is the base of Sauternes dessert wines.\u00a0 It\u2019s not quite a dessert wine, not quite a table wine.\u00a0 It\u2019s just unique.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re sure that the elderly woman has long since passed on, but there is an interesting coda to this story.\u00a0 Years later we were at the tourist information office in Rasteau, village near Vacqueyras, and we related the story above to the young woman who was helping us.\u00a0 She looked at us, amazed, and said, \u201cThat woman is my grandmother!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the village of Vacqueyras, just beyond the center of town, there is a winery that we have visited several times when we have been in the Southern Rh\u00f4ne.\u00a0 The first time, it was highly recommended by the hotel where we were staying so we headed there after lunch in the village.\u00a0 The rest of … Continue reading Domaine le Clos des Cazaux<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2333"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2342,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2333\/revisions\/2342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}