Winemaker Notes
#74 Jeb Dunnuck Top 100 of 2025
Complex nose of candied fruits, gingerbread and brioche. The mouth is smooth with peach notes. Mineral final.
Blend: 50% Clairette, 20% Roussanne, 20% Grenache Blanc, 10% Bourboulenc & Piquepoul
Professional Ratings
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Jeb Dunnuck
An interesting blend of 50% Clairette, 20% each Roussanne and Grenache Blanc, and 10% other permitted varieties, the 2024 Châteauneuf Du Pape Vin De La Solitude Blanc was vinified and aged 10 months entirely in neutral barrels. Medium gold-hued, it shows Grand Cru white Burgundy-style reduction with ripe orchard fruits, toasted nuts, crushed stone, and floral nuances. It’s medium-bodied, has a pure, focused mouthfeel, bright yet fabulously integrated acidity, and a chiseled, layered, sensationally complex style. It’s the Coche-Dury of the Southern Rhône! With roughly 133 cases produced, give it 2-4 years and drink over the following two decades. Drink 2027-2047.One of the oldest estates in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and run by the Lançon family, Domaine de la Solitude covers over 80 acres in the La Solitude lieu-dit on the western edge of La Crau in the center of the appellation. The wines are made by the talented Florent Lançon, and the terroir is a mix of galets roulés and sandy safre soils. The winemaking is quasi-modern, with some new oak and small barrels, and mostly 100% destemming. Interestingly, the blends for their cuvées are chosen blind and put together rather late, so this estate never shows barrel samples. The range includes the classic Châteauneuf-du-Pape (60% Grenache, 15% each Syrah and Mourvèdre, and 5% each Cinsault and Counoise), the more modern styled Barberini (60% Grenache, 25% Syrah, and 15% Mourvèdre from 100% galets roulés terroir, aged with 60% new French oak), the 100% Grenache Cornelia Constanza from sandy safre soils in La Crau, and the relatively new Vin de la Solitude, always one of the most singular wines in a vintage with its complex blend as well as more whole cluster fermentation. The whites here are brilliant as well and deserve serious attention, with the Vin de la Solitude Blanc showing Grand Cru white Burgundy-style reduction and sensational complexity. As I wrote in the note, it’s the Coche-Dury of the Southern Rhône! I can’t recommend these wines enough and they certainly have a place in my personal cellar.
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Wine Spectator
A distinctive style, with pronounced flint smoke revealing savory, earthy, mushroomy undertones that alternate with ripe orchard fruit and melon. Honeyed and rich, with flickers of buttered brioche and toasted hazelnut, this is silky, long and beautifully complex, with a finish grounded in mineral, salt and fresh blossom notes.
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.