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 Deus ex Machina is made with 60% Grenache and 40% Mourvedre. The old vine Grenache is aged in vat and the Mourvedre is aged in 100% new and used French oak barrels. The production is limited to 500 cases per year.

Deus ex Machina is a literary and dramatic term for a miraculous intervention
that interrupts a logical course of events in a plot or play. A suitable name for a cuvée that had it’s start in the torrid vintage of 2003 when Philippe Cambie and Vincent Maurel made the decision to harvest at the end of September, weeks after their neighbours. Deus ex Machina is a blend of old vine Grenache from La Crau, aged in tank with equally ancient Mourvedre from the sandy soils of Bois Dauphin aged in demi-muid. Deus ex Machina is only made in the best vintages.