Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine Spectator
This captures a lot of fruit, from melon and yellow apple to white peach and star fruit and keep it bright and well-defined, while allied to a fresh, porcelainlike texture throughout. Drink now through 2025. 180 cases made, 50 cases imported.
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Jeb Dunnuck
Always a terrific effort, the 2019 Châteauneuf Du Pape Blanc boasts a light gold color as well as a vibrant nose of juicy citrus, tart pineapple, white flowers, and a kiss of honeysuckle. With medium-bodied richness of bright spine acidity and terrific balance, it’s a fabulous Châteauneuf du Pape white to enjoy over the coming 2 to 4 years.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
Hints of white peach, pineapple, melon and lime appear on the nose of the 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc, a tank-aged blend of Clairette and Roussanne. It's medium to full-bodied, showing some warmer, riper notes of peach on the mid-palate, then balancing those with hints of white pepper and citrus on the long, mouthwatering 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.