{"product_id":"2006-chateau-rayas-reserve-chateauneuf-du-pape-southern-rhone-france","title":"2006 Chateau Rayas, Reserve, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Southern Rhone, France","description":"\u003cp\u003eChâteau Rayas is the most storied name in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and the reason collectors who swear by pinot noir make an exception for one grenache. The estate sits at the end of an unmarked dirt track outside Courthézon, in the northeastern corner of the appellation, where Albert Reynaud, a notary from Avignon, bought the property in 1880. His son Louis began bottling under the Rayas name in the 1920s, his grandson Jacques ran the estate from 1978 until his death in 1997, and Jacques's nephew Emmanuel Reynaud made the wines from 1997 until his death in November 2025, when his sons took over. The site is one of the strangest in the appellation, and part of why the wines are so often called legendary: the roughly 13 hectares of vines lie on cool, north-facing slopes of pale sand rather than sun-baked galets, ringed by pine and oak forest that shelters them from the mistral, so the fruit ripens slowly and Rayas is routinely among the last estates in the village to harvest. The Réserve is grenache alone, drawn from the three parcels of Le Couchant, Le Levant, and Le Coeur, fermented whole cluster, aged in old foudres and demi-muids that add no flavor of their own, and bottled without fining or filtration after roughly two years.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2006 was a cooler, more measured year following the heat of 2005. A hot July gave way to a gray, damp August, and a warm, dry September carried the crop to ripeness without stress. At Rayas, where the sand and the shade already slow everything down, the result was a vintage of freshness and balance rather than force. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwenty years on, the 2006 is at its peak. The nose leads with kirsch and wild strawberry, then blood orange, thyme, and a trace of incense. The palate is silky and transparent, with black raspberry and clementine carried on fine acidity and gentle tannin, closing on licorice and a long, savory finish. Open an hour ahead and drink through 2030.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Yes Society","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":52371606995240,"sku":"AT06RAYAS750","price":1900.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0779\/1794\/6152\/files\/2006ChateauRayas_Reserve_Chateauneuf-du-Pape.jpg?v=1789501298","url":"https:\/\/yes-society.com\/products\/2006-chateau-rayas-reserve-chateauneuf-du-pape-southern-rhone-france","provider":"Yes Society","version":"1.0","type":"link"}