On his journey, the taster in charge of the Rhône Valley for the Bettane+Desseauve guide made a stopover in Vacqueyras. He tells us which wines he liked best. – En Magnum+ #11, July 2025
“Vacqueyras has long lived in the shadow of two giants. Châteauneuf-du-Pape, of course, which has long shone with the reputation of its wines, and Gigondas, with which the Vacqueyras appellation shares certain common terroirs. While its two neighbors now offer AOC wines in two colors (reds and whites), vacqueyras also offers rosés, with equal success. This quality in all three colors highlights the appellation’s great diversity of styles and terroirs. The brilliant geologist Georges Truc, a leading authority on the identification of Rhone Valley soils, has precisely mapped four major terroirs in Vacqueyras.
Let’s face it, they’re still largely unknown. The soils of part of the appellation area are essentially composed of Miocene safres and marls, which lend a silky texture to the wines they produce. The soils of the Petit Vallon de l’Oligocène and the Beauregard foothills give the wines the brilliance and aromatic intensity of marl soils. The highly complex soils of the Font des Papes cone and its fine sands offer supple, rapidly accessible wines. Finally, the soils of the large Garrigues terrace, with its pebbles and clays, provide mellowness and fleshiness. Over the past three decades, a fundamental effort has been made to significantly improve the quality of our wines. At the beginning of the 1990s, the wines were, in my opinion, often like those of the two neighboring appellations mentioned above: dense, rich, woody, made from over-ripe grapes, with the result that both the whites and the reds developed prematurely in the bottle. The 2000s saw the emergence of wines with more nuance and finesse, based more on the potential of the grapes than on technical winemaking choices, particularly in contrasting vintages such as 2002 and 2008. This trend has been confirmed since the 2010s, with the emergence of a new wave of winegrowers committed to organic and biodynamic farming.
These pioneers have been succeeded by an even more conscientious generation who have refocused on Grenache, the area’s strongest grape variety. Today, they work it with measured extractions to produce wines with less angular tannins, rounder and softer than in the past, and even very delicate for those from certain terroirs. It’s a refinement that underpins much of Vacqueyrassienne’s production, with its elegant, saline and salivating reds and whites. The great diversity of grape varieties also enables us to offer rosés with personalities different from those of other appellations in the southern Rhône Valley, more tannic and spicy, and with that patina that gives them a real extra soul.
As is often the case, time is an ally, and Vacqueyras are even better after five to seven years of cellaring, which is necessary to reveal the intensity of these luminous wines.”
Domaine Le Clos des Cazaux, Vacqueyras Red Vieilles Vignes 2023
Long ageing has given body, volume and personality to this terroir wine, which expresses musky scents and notes of candied fruit. We love its pulpy dimension.
91/100
Domaine Le Clos des Cazaux, Les Clefs d’or White 2023
With its notes of chamomile and white flowers, this is a fine gastronomic wine, rich and consistent on the palate.
92/100
Antoine Pétrus for En Magnum+ magazine
