The Rhône’s Hottest 95-pt Value
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2017 Camille Cayran Le Chêne Noir Côtes du Rhône Villages 750 ml
- Curated by unrivaled experts
- Choose your delivery date
- Temperature controlled shipping options
- Get credited back if a wine fails to impress
A Pleasure-Packed Rhône Classic
A Pleasure-Packed Rhône Classic
Sometimes a wine comes along that knocks us off our feet. The 2017 Camille Cayran Le Chêne Noir Côtes du Rhône Villages qualifies, with oomph to spare. Today, it’s here: the wine that took home top honors at the Decanter World Wine Awards, along with a 95-point score. “Unbelievable value,” gushed the tasting note. “Concentrated, juicy and fresh with succulent tannins.”
We were still glancing at the tech sheet when the wine was poured and even from where we were sitting we started to catch a whiff of the intense aromatics as the bramble, black cherry, blackberry, and cinnamon notes that spilled over the edges of our Riedel glasses. From the jump, the wine was outperforming our expectations for the price…and then came the terrific structure, the soft, delicate tannins complemented by mouthwatering acidity. All the rich fruit we’d gotten on the nose was there on the palate, plus sweet tobacco, chocolate, black pepper, and dried herbs. Wow! An absolute textbook Côtes du Rhône, but with the intensity turned up to 11.
We double-checked the price. It wasn’t too good to be true.
The favorite from the 2018 Decanter World Wine Awards hails from the Cave de Cairanne winery, created in 1929 by a cooperative of local winemakers. Old vineyards where half the vines are over 40-years-old are the source for this wine, primarily located in Cairanne where favorable exposure on hillside plots and natural drainage help create pristine quality. The Grenache is harvested from vines grown in rocky soil that sees tons of sun; the Syrah lends heft and voluptuousness, the Carignan the classic notes of pepper, cherry, and fine tannins. It all adds up to a mouth-filling classic southern Rhône red that pairs effortlessly with dinner, no matter what’s on the table.
A Côtes du Rhône Villages bottle of this pedigree offered for $22 goes like hotcakes among Rhône fans, literally disappearing off the shelves. Drinking like a wine that should cost twice as much, this is an easy add to cellar for anyone looking to keep a pleasure-packed classic red on hand.