Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Blanc Enters the 21st Century

While the overall quality
standard for white Rhône Valley wines has been steadily rising in recent years,
none of the region’s other appellations can
approach Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s rapid expansion of high-quality, even
world-class bottlings. Wine lovers who understandably threw in the towel on
these wines as recently as a decade ago, fed up with blowing good money on
dull, alcoholic, often oxidized wines, owe it to themselves to dip their toes
back into the water. I’m confident that you will be very pleasantly surprised
and perhaps even thrilled by the category’s quality turnaround.<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460651951311-White+CdP+collage+-+sized.jpg"> 

More Than an Afterthought

While white wines
represent only 7% of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s total production, don’t think for a
minute that most of today’s producers treat them as afterthoughts. In fact,
it’s the rare estate here that doesn’t produce at least one Châteauneuf blanc, and every year more producers
expand their line-ups to include bottlings from old vines, single varieties
and/or single sites. These new special cuvées
are often done to dazzling effect—and frequently without the full Monty of new
oak, lees stirring and amped-up ripeness that too often marks high-end,
limited-production white wines from around the world.

But an afterthought is
very much what the white wines were here for most wineries though the end of
the 20th century. The grapes were often harvested too late, in many
cases even after the red grapes had been picked. Pressing was done aggressively,
in many cases as vigorously as for red wines, while the wines often languished
in tanks with no temperature control or topping-up. Compounding these errors,
wineries often bottled their whites too late, at the cost of whatever freshness
they might have once had. These issues have now been addressed by all but a
handful of wineries in the area.

Of course there were
exceptions, notably at Château de Beaucastel, especially with their Roussanne
Vieilles Vignes bottling, but they were few and far between, not to mention
predictably expensive. In fact, many humble Côtes-du-Rhône whites, which were
bottled quickly for cash flow purposes, were simply fresher and better than
many Châteauneuf blancs. A similar
situation existed in Bordeaux through the early 1980s, when most of that
region’s wines—aside from Châteaux Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut-Brion and
Domaine de Chevalier—were thin, hard-edged and generally innocuous also-rans.
That is, until a handful of producers in the Graves area adopted more serious
farming and winemaking regimens that brought about a sea change in the quality
and reputation of these wines. I’m confident that the category of white Châteauneuf-du-Pape
will soon be recognized by the market for its quality, given the sheer number
of excellent wines that have emerged here since 2010. 

<img alt="" src="https://allgrapes.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads%2F1460649713078-An+outcropping+of+limestone%2C+ideal+for+growing+white+grapes+-+Copy.JPG"> 

An outcropping of limestone, ideal for the cultivation
of white grapes

The Key Contribution of Clairette

One of the strongest forces
for livelier wines has been the increasing popularity of the Clairette variety in the region. This
local grape and its rarely seen sibling Clairette
Rose are now being harvested on the early side for freshness and acid retention.
Wines whose blends are based heavily on this variety typically show vibrant
citrus fruit, floral and mineral elements, and the backbone to age. Grenache Blanc, which originated in
Spain’s Catalonia region, and Roussanne,
a transplant from the northern Rhône, are usually picked on the riper side and yield
richer wines with pit fruit and more exotic tropical character. With the addition
of Clairette, these wines now have vivacity to go with their power; they offer immediate
appeal but also have more capacity to age. Bourboulenc,
a late-ripening variety, is also popular as a blending grape but it plays
nowhere near as important a role in the region as the other three varieties do.
The other white grapes that grow here—Picardin
and Picpoul—make only rare appearances,
and minuscule ones at that, in most white Châteauneufs.

Most of the wines reviewed
in this article were tasted during my visit to the southern Rhône in late
February; I also tried a handful of additional examples upon my return to New
York.You Might Also Enjoy <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vinous.com/articles/chateauneuf-du-pape-reds-the-flamboyant-2014s-and-the-structured-2013s-apr-2016">Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reds:&nbsp;The Flamboyant 2014s and the Structured 2013s</a>, Josh Raynolds, April 2016 <a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/2014-and-2013-northern-rhone-great-wines-if-you-can-find-them-march-2016">2014 and 2013 Northern Rhône: Great Wines If You Can Find Them</a>, Josh Raynolds, March 2016 <a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/vacqueyras-promising-2013s-and-ready-to-drink-2012s-may-2015">Vacqueyras’ Promising 2013s and Ready to Drink 2012s</a>, Josh Raynolds, May 2015 <a target="_blank" href="http://vinous.com/articles/gigondas-new-releases-may-2015">Gigondas&nbsp;—&nbsp;New Releases</a>, Josh Raynolds, May 2015 <a target="_blank" href="http://www.vinous.com/articles/chateauneuf-du-pape-the-lively-2013s-and-the-lush-2012s-apr-2015">Châteauneuf du Pape: The Lively 2013s and Lush 2012s</a>, Josh Raynolds, April 2015 

-- Josh Raynolds

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