Most people don’t realize that only a very small percentage of the wine made in Chateauneuf du Pape is white!  It’s a true rarity and a real treat when you get a good one.  The best are chock full of character and have the backbone and acidity to keep all those flavors lively and fun for a long time.  One of the best we’ve had in years is from the iconic La Bastide Saint Dominique, one of the region’s very top properties taking advantage of the privileged terroir of Pignan in Chateauneuf’s northeastern-most quadrant.  From centenarian vines, this bottling is something of an anomaly in the category as it is made with 100% Clairette Rose. A light pink genetic mutation of Clairette Blanche, it’s a grape very rarely seen in the Southern Rhone and when it is, it is often bottled as Rosé.  Clairette Rose, though, is the most complex and late ripening grape of the many white varieties grown in the Southern Rhone. It brings texture, acidity and even a bit of tannin to a Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, and a Clairette Rose white monocepage is a sort of unicorn.  It’s also the reason that the 2000-bottle production of Bastide Saint Dominique’s Chapelle bottling is considered one of, if not the very most, age-worthy examples of Chateauneuf Blanc you will find.  Usually our advice when offering Chateauneuf Blanc is to drink it young but, in this case, we’ll make an exception.  Here’s one you can certainly drink young, but it will only improve in the cellar.  A wine with a sort of cult following in Europe, many top restaurants purchase it with an eye to putting it on the list six or eight years from the vintage.  You have the chance to both drink it young (great with roast or grilled pork) or with bottle age.  Only problem is that I have only 36 bottles to spread around. It’s first come- first served!

Jeb Dunnuck: All Clairette Rose, the 2023 Châteauneuf Du Pape Chapelle Blanc is brilliant stuff, offering a clean, crisp, yet still concentrated style in its orange blossom, honeyed citrus, toasted spices, and chalky minerality. It's medium to full-bodied, has a fresh, focused mouthfeel, beautifully integrated acidity, and a great finish. 96 points