Domaine du Père Caboche traces its history in Châteauneuf-du-Pape back to 1652, when the property belonged to the Chambellan family before passing to the Boisson family through marriage. The estate takes its unusual name from the old Provençal word for horseshoe nails, a nod to the family's generations-long work as blacksmiths alongside winemaking. Jean-Pierre Boisson, a former mayor of Châteauneuf-du-Pape, now runs the domaine with his children Emily and Nicolas, farming 23 hectares with careful, weekly-monitored soil management rather than herbicides.
This 2023 bottle carries the Châteauneuf-du-Pape appellation, sourced largely from the estate's 17 hectares in La Crau, one of the appellation's most celebrated terroirs, covered in the region's signature heat-retaining rolled pebbles. Built primarily from Grenache with Syrah and Mourvèdre, some vines over a century old, dating to a family parcel planted in 1906, it's full-bodied with rich dark fruit, garrigue herbs, and a fine, structured tannic backbone. Expect ripe cherries, spice, and a long, elegant finish.
The result is a serious, historically rooted Châteauneuf-du-Pape from a family whose ties to this land predate the appellation itself by centuries.