Walls: 19 vintages of Beaucastel’s white Rhône masterpiece

As we walked through the winery at Château de Beaucastel, I asked César Perrin if he minded if I took some photos. ‘Sure,’ he said, ‘but we’re not allowed to take any of the actors.’

Between two sorting tables laden with purple grapes were lighting rigs and a camera crew all focusing on two glamorous individuals staring into each other’s eyes. They were filming the latest episode of the TV series Drops of God.

You never quite know what to expect at Beaucastel.

The Perrin family has always done things differently. Working organically as early as 1950 and farming biodynamically since 1974, the family was one of the first in the region to champion Mourvèdre; now, they’re backing Counoise.

But arguably their most radical move to date was to create their top white cuvée Roussanne Vieilles Vignes in 1986, a wine that marries richness and vigour like few others.

Scroll down for notes and scores of 19 vintages of Beaucastel Roussanne Vieilles Vignes

A break from tradition

Today, most of the neighbouring estates bottle a range of different Châteauneufs. But in the mid-1980s that wasn’t the case; local estates produced just one red wine (and perhaps one white).

There were only a couple of estates making a Cuvée Spéciale at that time, and making a white one was unheard of.

Given this appellation’s longstanding dedication to blending, producing a white Cuvée Spéciale just from Roussanne – a single grape variety – was even more broad-minded.

I visited César and his father François Perrin a few weeks ago to taste 19 vintages of this pioneering white, from 2023 back to 1986 – one of the most comprehensive verticals they’ve ever done.

Four decades of winemaking

François was just 24 years old when he joined the family estate in 1978. ‘I didn’t understand anything to begin with,’ he says, but there was a particular plot of Roussanne that caught his eye that was planted in 1919 by his grandfather Pierre.

François first vinified this Roussanne separately in 1986, and, happy with the results, he continued to do so. ‘I had no idea they would live this long,’ he says.

Having both François and César present at the tasting was particularly instructive. François could tell me about the older vintages that he made, and César filled in the details on the more recent vintages; the 2012 vintage marks the transition from father to son.

From time to time, François teases César when we taste the older wines: ‘You see,’ he says to César, ‘we made good wines back then!’ But you can tell they get on well.

Picking by eye

The source of the fruit has always remained the same: a 4ha plot from the Beaucastel estate on the northeastern edge of the appellation. Yields are naturally low – around 15hl/ha – and around 6,000 bottles are released per year.

The key to the style is ripeness. ‘We don’t look to keep acidity,’ says François, ‘we pick it ripe, and when it turns roux,’ referring to the freckled, russet colour that Roussanne develops late in the season.

This always takes place between 15 September and 5 October, and they haven’t noticed much change with the picking dates.

‘The grapes almost start to deteriorate,’ adds César, ‘it can be a bit scary – but that’s the secret to Roussanne Vieilles Vignes.’

Stylistic evolution

In the 1980s, François says that the winemaking was ‘more empirical’. Today, they have more precision when it comes to temperature control and protecting the wine from oxygen.

They use more demi-muids than barriques now to age the wines, and they use either new or one-year-old oak.

With the help of a guide called a merrandier, someone specialised in splitting wood and making wooden staves, César buys entire oak trees from private forests, some aged up to 250 years old. These are then dried for three years before being fashioned into barrels.

The essence of Roussanne Vieilles Vignes

Roussanne is an unusually adaptable grape. It can make wines of lightness and purity in the cool, mountainous region of Savoie; it can make middle-weight St-Josephs in the northern Rhône.

And in Châteauneuf it makes wines of deep opulence – and none more so than Beaucastel’s Roussanne Vieilles Vignes.

When young, it typically has flavours of pear and apricot, leaning towards peach or even mango in warmer years. Notes of honey and spice build over time. The acidity is only ever mild, but saline touches on the palate and noble bitter notes help to bring structure.

Be aware that it usually goes through ‘a period of oxidation, a certain flatness around 10 years on average,’ according to François. ‘Then it becomes young again,’ he says, ‘but more angular and tense, less supple.’

This was borne out by the tasting; the 2016, though clearly an excellent wine, will disappoint if you open it now – it’s currently in this oxidative phase. The 2014 however is much more expressive and youthful.

What amazed me was how fresh and vibrant the oldest wines were – both the 1988 and the 1986 were still wonderful, with an extraordinary clarity and salinity.

It goes against the prevailing belief that full-bodied, low acid wines can’t age. Radical styles can behave unexpectedly.

What’s next for Beaucastel? Its most uncompromising project to date – a revolutionary new winery – has nearly come to fruition. More on that later.

But I can confirm it’s a fitting home to a wine such as this – one of France’s greatest Mediterranean whites.

19 vintages of a white masterpiece

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