2021 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc Vieilles Clairettes

Bottled in February of 2023, the 2021 Châteauneuf Du Pape Cuvée Spéciale Vieilles Clairettes is another fresh, focused, vibrant white with so much to love. Crushed pineapple, white flowers, chalky minerality, and spicy nuances all define the aromatics, and it's medium to full-bodied, has an incredibly focused, precise, layered mouthfeel, good acidity, and a great finish. It's still tight and inward and needs 2-3 years of bottle age, but this is another riveting example of old vine Clairette made by a master. Located in the southern part of the appellation and previously named Domaine de Saint Préfert, this impeccably run estate is owned and managed by Isabel Ferrando, who learned winemaking in Gigondas when she worked at Raspail-Ay. Her first vintage in Châteauneuf du Pape was in 2003, and she produced a bevy of truly brilliant wines from 2003 to 2019 under her Domaine de Saint Préfert label. In 2020, the estate was renamed to Famille Isable Ferrando, and while she produced as many as five cuvées in the past, today the model has moved away from special cuvées, with the focus on a single, classic Châteauneuf du Pape, although she does continue to release a Colombis, F601, and Cuvée Special Vielles Clairettes. Having tasted with Ferrando since early in the 2000s, it has been interesting to see the gradual changes in style at the estate, with the early wines being exuberant and powerful, yet always balanced and elegant. Starting in 2009, you can see a gradual shift in the style of the wines, with Ferrando opting to keep some stems in the fermentations, as well as a subtle shift in the élevage of the wines. I suspect there were subtle changes in harvest dates as well, but her wines have always been true to the region and have utterly classic profiles. The most dramatic change was moving away from the special cuvée model in 2020 with the first release of the Famille Isabel Ferrando Châteauneuf du Pape, which includes grapes from the prior classic cuvée, Reserve Auguste Favier, and Collection Charles Giraud. The quality speaks for itself, and this estate has always gone from strength to strength, which I expect to continue.

Aged partly in wine globes (glass) and partly in demi-muids, the 2021 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc Vieilles Clairettes offers up just the merest hint of pencil shavings, with more emphasis given to the white peach fruit of the grape and a tinge of baking spices. It's perhaps a bit tamer and less flamboyant than previous vintages, but it's still impressive, with a cool, refreshing finish.

Containing 1% less alcohol than the 2020, the 2021 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Spéciale Vieilles Clairettes may very well be the best white wine that Isabel Ferrando and her team have ever made. It mingles pristine aromas of spring blossom, honeysuckle, yellow apple, ripe pear, quince, white peach, lemon flesh with a refreshing splash of fennel and verbena tea. Expanding vertically on the palate, this full-bodied, slightly oily-textured and concentrated white radiates beauty with excellent flavor definition and remarkable tension.