2019 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc Vieilles Clairettes
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Tasting Notes
This is Isabel Ferrando's Henri Bonneau inspired 100% Clairette Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc cuvée made from a single plot of 80-year-old vines. Just 800 magnums are produced each year. Yet to be tasted by the critics and unlikely to, given its rarity. The 2019 vintage was a huge success for Domaine Saint-Préfért producing some of the best wines ever produced at the estate. It is also the last vintage to be labelled Domaine Saint-Préfért. From the 2020 vintage the wines are labelled Famille Isabel Ferrando.
Critic Scores
Average Score
Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
Joe Czerwinski, Wine Advocate
More reviews and scores
Only 800 magnums of the 2019 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Cuvée Spéciale Vieilles Clairettes were battled, making it quite hard to find. Deep lemon-colored, it saars from the glass with fragrant aromas of spring flowers, candied lemon peel, dried ginger, ripe nectarine and peach, honey, almond and petrol Showing remarkable tension and precision, it is medium to full-bodied, incredibly dense but at the same time also quite light on its feet. This magnificent white shows excellent freshness on the sapid finish, lingering on for well over a minute.
Always one of the top white wines of the appellation, the 2019 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc Cuvee Speciale Vieilles Vignes de Clairette sets hints of toast against deep white peach flavors. Medium to full-bodied and gloriously silky in texture, it wonderfully balances the richness of the vintage with vibrant, lime-zest flavors to finish long, briny and satisfying.
Flowers, honeysuckle, bees wax, peach, vanilla and citrus create the wine. On the palate, the wine is rich, round, ripe, long, and intense. There is volume, lift, and energy. Rich, dense, concentrated, and equally light on its feet, even with all that going on, the wine remains perfectly balanced, fresh, complex, and intense. This should age and evolve for up to 2 decades. The wine is made from 100% Old vine Clairettes. 2019 is the first vintage where the wine was not produced in magnum. Drink from 2023 - 2038.
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About the producer
Domaine Saint-Préfert was one of Châteauneuf-du-Pape’s leading names, known for crafting some of the region’s most elegant wines. The wines are now bottled under the Famille Isabel Ferrando name.