2010 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc

Vincent and Pascal Maurel and their enologist Philippe Cambie told me that they've been fine-tuning their pressing regimen to get more finesse, "because we don't need to worry about structure owing to our old vines." On the contrary, said Vincent Maurel, "the issue is keeping the structure from running ahead of the fruit, so gentle and careful pressing is essential." Production here will be going up significantly as the Maurels' contracts to sell fruit to negociants continue to expire and their new facility, which is massive by Chateauneuf standards, has more than enough space to handle the task of raising and aging the wines made from their 43 hectares of vines in La Crau.