Clos Saint Jean has a history in Chateauneuf du Pape that can be dated all the way to the very start of the twentieth century. The estate was created by Edmund Tacussel in 1900. The Tacussel family also founded what later became Domaine Moulin Tacussel. Within a decade of its creation, Clos Saint Jean was ready to begin producing. bottling and selling their own wine, which they’ve been doing since 1910. However, Clos Saint Jean did not begin to earn fame until the 2003 vintage, which caused the famous wine critic, Robert Parker to extol the estate’s virtues, and the rest, as they say, is history. Today, Pascal Maurel and Vincent Maurel manage Clos Saint-Jean. They brought in Philippe Cambie in 2002 as their consultant. Since 2003, the brothers have completely turned this previously unknown estate around.

Clos Saint Jean La Combe des Fous comes primarily from an old vine Grenache planted at the start of the 20th century. The blend is usually 60% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 10% Cinsault, and 10% Vaccarese. The owners clearly have a sense of humour. The name, loosely translated into the hill of fools earned its moniker for the difficult terroir as the rocks in and on the soils are huge! The production is only 500 cases per year.