La Clape Classique Rouge by Chateau d'Angles 2021

Chateau d’Angles is a leading quality producer situated in the heart of La Clape, on the Mediterranean coast in France’s Languedoc region. Here, the Fabre family crafts exciting Grenache based red wines and surprising whites from the local Bourboulenc grape. Owner and winemaker Eric Fabre served as the Technical Director at Chateau Lafite Rothschild in Bordeaux for nearly a decade, so having reached the pinnacle of Cabernet based red wines, he turned his attention to finding the perfect place to pursue a new direction emphasizing Grenache based reds.

Along with his wife, Christine, Eric Fabre began his search in 2001 and quickly discovered the magic of this southern French coastal terroir. Since their purchase of Chateau d’Angles that same year, this stunning estate has received 35 Gold Medals – and a ton of exciting coverage from leading wine critics around the globe, including Decanter Magazine, Jancis Robinson and others. Here at Chateau d’Angles, the Fabre family produces a small range of exciting, artisan wines. It begins with carefully tended vineyards where the grapes are picked entirely by hand, carefully sorted and that elusive touch of magic – the gift of a great winemaker – brings together the best of traditional wine growing and modern techniques.

The terroir here in La Clape offers the ideal – seemingly contradictory – combination of a Mediterranean climate with over 300 days of sunshine each year, juxtaposed against a hostile and demanding landscape characterized by hard, stony, well-draining limestone soil. Add a splash of typical southern French ‘garrigue' (pine trees, thyme, rosemary, juniper and the aromatic cistus bushes all growing wild alongside the vineyards) and the result is ripe, generous wines with abundant Mediterranean personality.