The wine of the month
Domaine du Pas de l'Escalette, Les Clapas, Rouge, 2020
4,0 NJP of 5,0 NJP
February 2023: Domaine du Pas de l'Escalette, Les Clapas, Rouge, 2020 (20 EUR/21 USD in Sweden) red dry blend wine, Terrasses du Larzac, Languedoc-Roussillon, France, 4,0 of 5,0 NJP (90 points of 100 points) (25-02-2023 by Nenad Jelisic)
Here we have a really good wine from the Terrasses du Larzac appellation in the Languedoc-Roussillon wine region. Domaine du Pas de l'Escalette Les Clapas Rouge 2020 is both complex and elegant. The aroma is concentrated, spicy, herbal, deep and filled with thyme, rosemary, cassis, dark cocoa rich chocolate, bay leaves, minerals, roses and dark berries. The flavour is spicy, herbal and filled with black olives, minerals, thyme, rosemary, dark cherries, dark cocoa rich chocolate and bay leaves. The wine has a good tannin structure and very good acidity. The aftertaste is long, dry and herbal.
The wine's tannins and acidity requires tasty and high-calorie food such as Beef Wellington with Hasselback Potatoes and funnel chanterelle sauce or Boeuf bourguignon with mashed potatoes or really good and tasty burgers with cheese and bacon or Pizza á la Jelisic (Pizza Vesuvio with beef fillet, black olives, red onion and parmesan cheese) or elk mince steaks with mushrooms, roasted root vegetables and red wine sauce or with creamy pasta (fresh) with bacon, basil, sun-dried tomatoes and small pieces of chicken thigh fillets. It should be drunk at 16 to 18 degrees from real Bordeaux glasses, if possible, from Orrefors, Kosta Boda, Spiegelau or Riedel.
Domaine du Pas de l'Escalette Les Clapas Rouge 2020 consists of 50% Syrah, 30% Carignan and 20% Grenache. The grapes for it come from terraced vineyards as well as some walled vineyards on steep hillsides in Lauroux and Pégairolles de l’Escalette. The vines are between 40 and 80 years old. The soil consists of clayey calcareous soil. The grapes are picked and sorted by hand. After very careful selections in both the vineyards and the winery, 50% of the Carignan- and Grenache-grapes are destemmed, while the Syrah-grapes are not destemmed at all. Then the grapes are crushed and their grape mass, which consists of crushed grapes, grape stems and grape juice, is macerated/fermented in 5,000 litters large oak barrels at a temperature of about 30°C for about 3 to 4 weeks. Then the grape mass is gently pressed and the wine is moved to French 2,000 and 5,000 litters oak barrels, where it undergoes malolactic fermentation and is aged for about 14 months. Finally, the wine is bottled and aged for a few more months before it is released in the market. Domaine du Pas de l'Escalette Les Clapas Rouge 2020 can be aged for at least 3 more years i.e. until at least 2026.
