Winemaker Notes
Pale gold with green tints. This elegant and balanced white wine offers notes of citrus, pear, lemon blossom, and toasted hazelnut. The finish is long and persistent.
Pair with scallop risotto and sea bream ceviche.
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
Based on 51% Roussanne, 26% Grenache Blanc, 14% Clairette, and 9% Bourboulenc from the la Crau, la Nerthe, and la Rigole lieux-dits, the 2024 Châteauneuf Du Pape Blanc was aged six months in a mix of demi-muids, barrels, and stainless steel. Medium gold-hued, it offers fabulous purity in its ripe peach, orange blossom, minty herb, and subtle mineral-laced aromatics. It's medium-bodied, with a beautifully textured mouthfeel that has nicely integrated acidity, a balanced, layered profile, and outstanding length. This is well worth a case purchase and will keep for 15-20 years in cold cellars. Drink 2025-2045.
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James Suckling
This powerful, full-bodied white Chateauneuf shows a wide spectrum of stone fruit, citrus and wild herb aromas. I love the balance of restrained creaminess from maturation on the lees with the elegant structure and animating freshness, the latter accentuate by a touch of bitterness in the long, quite firm finish. From organically grown grapes. Drink or hold.
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Wine Spectator
A broad, stylish white, filled out with juicy star fruit, melon and baking spices. There’s a glycerol feel to the silky palate, smudged with toasty oak, smoke and honeyed richness. Supple through the dense, long finish, detailed with fennel frond, ginger and flinty mineral notes. Roussanne, Grenache Blanc, Clairette and Bourboulenc.
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Decanter
Deeply coloured, this is ripe, tropical, rich, opulent, oaky and broad. The oak influence is quite strong and will take time to integrate. It has very large proportions and is certainly one for those looking for a big, ripe, luxurious style of white Châteauneuf with a long finish.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2024 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc from Château La Nerthe is a lovely effort, opening with aromas of white fruits, spices and flowers. Medium- to full-bodied, sappy and seamless, it offers an elegantly juicy core of fruit that carries into a delicate, gently oaked finish. Vinified and matured for six months in a combination of large barrels, 20% new oak and used barrels, it is composed of 51% Roussanne, 26% Grenache Blanc, 14% Clairette and 9% Bourboulenc.
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Vinous
The 2024 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc opens with fresh grapefruit and lemon flesh, linden blossom and green apple aromas. White flowers add more complexity. Medium- to full-bodied, crisp and refreshing, the 2024 is neatly balanced by bright acidity that carries all the way through to the long, complex finish.
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
Famous for its full-bodied, seductive and spicy reds with flavor and aroma characteristics reminiscent of black cherry, baked raspberry, garrigue, olive tapenade, lavender and baking spice, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the leading sub-appellation of the southern Rhône River Valley. Large pebbles resembling river rocks, called "galets" in French, dominate most of the terrain. The stones hold heat and reflect it back up to the low-lying gobelet-trained vines. Though the galets are typical, they are not prominent in every vineyard. Chateau Rayas is the most obvious deviation with very sandy soil.
According to law, eighteen grape varieties are allowed in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and most wines are blends of some mix of these. For reds, Grenache is the star player with Mourvedre and Syrah coming typically second. Others used include Cinsault, Counoise and occasionally Muscardin, Vaccarèse, Picquepoul Noir and Terret Noir.
Only about 6-7% of wine from Châteauneuf-du-Pape is white wine. Blends and single-varietal bottlings are typically based on the soft and floral Grenache Blanc but Clairette, Bourboulenc and Roussanne are grown with some significance.
The wine of Chateauneuf-du-Pape takes its name from the relocation of the papal court to Avignon. The lore says that after moving in 1309, Pope Clément V (after whom Chateau Pape-Clément in Pessac-Léognan is named) ordered that vines were planted. But it was actually his successor, John XXII, who established the vineyards. The name however, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, translated as "the pope's new castle," didn’t really stick until the 19th century.