Photo courtesy of Clos Saint Jean

100 Year-Old Vines 
Once A Fool’s Errand

La Combe des Fous - the hill of the fool.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape is a vast region with multiple sub-zones. The most famous and well-known is La Crau. La Crau is associated with the large stone covered vineyards, galets, and, of course, Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe.

However, like all wine regions, generalities prevail and the more closely you examine a region the diversity and uniqueness of each plot of land is amplified and dramatically different. La Crau is divided amongst a wide array of producers. The soil and elevation of La Crau is vast, making it more than just the flat sprawling pictures of the plateau which are commonly used by producers and wine magazines. From the north-western edge to the south-eastern corner La Crau is one the most ideal and diverse places for Grenache.

La Combe des Fous sits along the south-eastern hills of La Crau, where the density and depth of the galets is so severe compared to the heart of the region. The rocky sun-drenched terrain convinced the farmers that vines would not thrive there, or at minimum would not reward the hard work it would take to tend them. In 1905, La Combe des Fous was planted to Grenache by Edmund Tacussel, the great-great-grandfather of Vincent and Pascal Maruel of Clos Saint Jean.

Today, the Maurel brothers have propelled Clos Saint Jean into one the greatest estates of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Their success is founded on the old-vine vineyards of their family’s domaine. It is their collection of 50 to 100+ year old-vine Grenache that are the backbone to their highly sought-after cuvees.  

La Combe des Fous is the epitome of this expression. Almost purely old-vine Grenache, La Combe des Fous is the most site specific cuvee of the domaine. Always the wine of the range that shows the most vintage characteristics, La Combe de Fous is a classically structured Chateauneuf-du-Pape providing depth of fruit, minerality, structure, and age-ability. It is pure Grenache with elegance and concentration. This is not the typical cuvee of the region, blended for high impact fruit and spice.  

This is a wine of place, rather than process. La Combe des Fous may have been a fool's errand 120 years ago, but today it is one of the most unique expressions of Chateauneuf-du-Pape.

Cheers,
Jeremy