Famille Ferrando Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2021
- Decanter
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Jeb
Dunnuck - Vinous
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Wine
Spectator
Product Details
Your Rating
Somm Note
Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Decanter
Discrete reductive note brings a flinty edge to the florals. Disarmingly lovely on the palate. Very well balanced, with all the beauty of Clairette - the florals, the freshness, the acidity, the silkiness. Fermented in glass spheres and old foudres.
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Jeb Dunnuck
The classic white here is always worth checking out, and the 2021 Châteauneuf Du Pape Blanc shines on all accounts. Honeyed white flowers, stone fruits, orange blossom, and a touch of spice all emerge on the nose, and it's medium to full-bodied, has a pure, elegant mouthfeel, and a great finish. It has the vintage's fresher, pure style yet doesn't lack for fruit or texture.
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Vinous
The 2021 Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc holds a tight lead over the 2020 and 2022. The 2021 Blanc bursts with delightful aromas of honeysuckle, yellow apple, lemon and lime zest, white peach, melon and a pinch of pineapple. It is full-bodied, pure and precise, balanced by lively acidity and ending distinctively sapid.
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Wine Spectator
Shows great harmony to the ripe green plum, star fruit and honey, upheld by succulent, mouthwatering acidity and highlighted by salted butter, brioche and cardamom. Reveals acacia floral notes that echo throughout the concentrated, smooth finish. Clairette and Roussanne.
Isabel Ferrando’s reputation for outstanding wines has grown every vintage since her first release in 2003. She purchased Domaine Saint-Préfert from the Serre family, who was one of the first to estate-bottle in the appellation in the 1930’s; at that point, the domaine was 13.2 hectares, all in the Les Serres lieux-dit, south of the village of Châteauneuf. In 2004, she purchased more land and started making the 100% Grenache cuvée Colombis, primarily from the lieux-dit of Colombis, with sandy soil; this was bottled as Domaine Isabel Ferrando. Ferrando has always farmed organically and starting in 2019, the vines are being managed following biodynamic methods. She has very old vines in her holdings: the Grenache vines average more than 70 years old, and she still has some of the original Mourvèdre that was planted in the 1920’s. Throughout each parcel, all thirteen varieties are co-planted, something that her mentor, Henri Bonneau told her is, “the beginning of the complexity [of her wines.]” Starting with the release of the 2020 vintage, Isabel Ferrando is beginning a new chapter in her story as a winemaker. Both of her properties, Domaine Saint Prefert and Isabel Ferrando will be joined under the name Famille Isabel Ferrando. One reason for the change is that her daughter, Guillemette will join Mme. Ferrando at the winery after she finishes her studies. And the other, after working for 18 years with the Serres vineyard, which surrounds the Saint Prefert winery, and studying its the potential, Ferrando has decided to follow the tradition of blending and will now make a single wine from that site. She came to the conclusion that the blend of the fruit from “Favier” and “Giraud” makes a greater wine than either wine on its own. Some wines remain unchanged, “Colombis”, Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc, the Vieilles Clairettes, F601, and the Côtes-du-Rhône are still in the line up. Three wines are becoming one and there are some new toys in the winery, including amphora and glass demi-johns. We are very excited to taste the new Famille Isabel Ferrando Chateauneuf-du-Pape Rouge and Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc 2020. As Jeb Dunnuck noted after tasting the new wines, “…one thing that remains constant is the incredible quality that continues to emerge from this talented winemaker.”
Full-bodied and flavorful, white Rhône blends originate from France’s Rhône Valley. Today these blends are also becoming popular in other regions. Typically some combination of Grenache Blanc, Marsanne, Roussanne and Viognier form the basis of a white Rhône blend with varying degrees of flexibility depending on the exact appellation. Somm Secret—In the Northern Rhône, blends of Marsanne and Roussanne are common but the south retains more variety. Marsanne, Roussanne as well as Bourboulenc, Clairette, Picpoul and Ugni Blanc are typical.
Famous for its full-bodied, seductive and spicy reds with flavor and aroma characteristics reminiscent of black cherry, baked raspberry, garrigue, olive tapenade, lavender and baking spice, Châteauneuf-du-Pape is the leading sub-appellation of the southern Rhône River Valley. Large pebbles resembling river rocks, called "galets" in French, dominate most of the terrain. The stones hold heat and reflect it back up to the low-lying gobelet-trained vines. Though the galets are typical, they are not prominent in every vineyard. Chateau Rayas is the most obvious deviation with very sandy soil.
According to law, eighteen grape varieties are allowed in Châteauneuf-du-Pape and most wines are blends of some mix of these. For reds, Grenache is the star player with Mourvedre and Syrah coming typically second. Others used include Cinsault, Counoise and occasionally Muscardin, Vaccarèse, Picquepoul Noir and Terret Noir.
Only about 6-7% of wine from Châteauneuf-du-Pape is white wine. Blends and single-varietal bottlings are typically based on the soft and floral Grenache Blanc but Clairette, Bourboulenc and Roussanne are grown with some significance.
The wine of Chateauneuf-du-Pape takes its name from the relocation of the papal court to Avignon. The lore says that after moving in 1309, Pope Clément V (after whom Chateau Pape-Clément in Pessac-Léognan is named) ordered that vines were planted. But it was actually his successor, John XXII, who established the vineyards. The name however, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, translated as "the pope's new castle," didn’t really stick until the 19th century.