At dinner on Tuesday evening I was reminded how much I love Châteaneuf-du-Pape Blanc by a bottle of 2004 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe.  We choose it as a white to cover the entire nine-course Chef’s tasting menu at Crush, a restaurant that isn’t scared of meat, and it not only performed admirably, but was a delight to drink.

This is a wine that won’t get written about much for the next year or so.  Wine writers (me included) and editors are jumping all over one another to write about a very narrow definition of “value” which often sounds a little like “cheap”:  because only about 10% of the production of Châteauneuf-du-Pape is white, these, due to their scarcity, are not.  That said,  I would argue that the best (often priced between $40 and $100 per bottle) represent a great value in the sense of getting  a delicious and unique bottle of wine for the money.

Legally, white Châteauneuf-du-Pape can contain any of the thirteen varieties of grapes permitted in the AOC, but in practice, only the white grapes, Grenache Blanc, Roussanne, Clairette, Picpoul and Bourbolenc, are used.  Because of the Mediterranean climate and the prevalence of high-alcohol grape varieties, these wines are often quite rich: but the best maintain plenty of fresh acidity. Flavors of apricots and peaches, as well as more tropical fruits are often complimented by creamy, waxy and nutty flavors and textures, and occasionally some spice and vanilla from new oak.  This is a wine that, though always good, has definitely benefited from the more modern approach that many of the wineries have employed.

I was first smitten with Châteaneuf-du-Pape blanc on a wine trip, very early in my career, to Château de Beaucastel, one of the leading estates in the region.  The Perrin Family, proprietors of the estate, had recently been to a dinner in which the chef had asked a number of producers to bring their oldest white wines.  The story they told was that, while they obliged the chef and brought a very old white, they also brough a much more recent one that they were sure would still be good.  It turns out that the other producers had all done the same.  When it came time to open the older wines, they were all supendously good, which was a little bit of a surprise to even the winemakers.  I benefitted peripherrally from this dinner,because at the time that we were visiting, the Château was opening a number of their older whites to evaluate, and I got to taste wines from the ’50’s (this was the early 90’s).  Needless to say, I fell in love.

Châteaneuf-du-Pape Blanc shares  a peculiar ageing cycle with it’s brethren whites from the Northern Rhône.  On release, the wines are usually vibrant, and fruity, and rich, and very showy.  Over the next five or ten years, the wines quiet down, but develop a more complex flavor and a very powerful, elegant texture.  At a certain point, usually about ten years from the vintage, the wines go very quiet, and for a significant period of time, often ten years or more, don’t exhibit much in the way of flavor, and can even taste old and tired.   But many of them spring into a second, much more intriguing life after this sleepy period that is filled with baked fruit, butterscotch, spices and smoky characters, and is a revalation if you ever get to taste it.

Another quirk of Châteaneuf-du-Pape Blanc is that it often posseses an unusual mixture of oxidative (nutty, rich, waxy), and reductive (crisp, fruity, even sulphury) flavors.  Another type of wine that exhibits this tendency is Chenin Blanc from Saviennieres.  In both cases, the wines benefit from decanting (yes, it’s perfectly okay, and sometimes desirable, to decant whites) before drinking.

Regardless, drinking the 2004 Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe Blanc reminded me exactly why I love Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc.  What a treat.  I say forget about the economy and prepare to experience a value in the grander sense of the word!