2017 Chateauneuf du Pape La Crau Blanc

Loads of lemon curd, crushed citrus, white flowers, and salty sea breeze as well as an incredible minerality all emerge from the 2017 Châteauneuf Du Pape Blanc. It's concentrated, layered, and has a Burgundian sense of purity, elegance, and length on the palate. While 2017 was a hot, sunny year, it has a brilliant sense of freshness. It’s approachable today, but it will benefit from 2-4 years of bottle age and keep for two decades or more. In the Brunier family since 1898, Domaine du Vieux Telegraphe lies on the eastern edge of Châteauneuf du Pape and covers 60 hectares of some of the finest terroir out there, the famed la Crau plateau. Looking at the winemaking, the estate has destemmed all their grapes since 1989 and the wines see all native ferments, with no temperature control, and aging all in older foudre. In addition, due to the recent completion of a new state of the art winery, the grapes are now moved only by gravity. While 2016 was an incredible vintage for this estate, they’ve produced brilliant wines in both 2017 and 2018. Lovers of elegant, classical Châteauneuf du Pape, both red and white, can’t wrong with this estate.

Bright straw-yellow. Powerful aromas of fresh pear and white peach are complicated by suggestions of orange zest, iodine and succulent flowers. Sappy and impressively delineated on the palate, offering intense pear skin, Meyer lemon and honeysuckle flavors that deepen and spread out steadily on the back half. Hints of marzipan and candied ginger emerge on an impressively long, mineral-tinged finish that echoes the floral and citrus fruit notes.

VT's 2017 Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc is a blend of 45% Clairette, 30% Grenache Blanc, 15% Roussanne and 10% Bourboulenc, fermented in a mix of foudres, demi-muids and barriques. It's medium to full-bodied but tight, with crisp lime, lemon and pear notes carried on a silky-textured palate. You could drink this on release and enjoy it for its focus and delineation, or you could give the inner richness the time it needs (2-3 years) to emerge and soften the subtle citrus zest notes on the finish.