It’s hard to overstate how beloved (and sought-after) Château Rayas is. Though the estate has been in the Reynaud family since the late 1800s, it grew in acclaim in the 1970s under “the godfather of Châteauneuf-du-Pape,” Jacques Reynaud, who championed human-scale work: low yields for maximum grape quality, manual harvest, even plowing by horse. Now under the direction of his nephew Emmanuel Reynaud, the estate works under three labels: Château de Fonsalette, Château Rayas, and Château des Tours.
Château des Tours is a 40-hectare estate, planted with grains, olive trees alongside the vines. It’s also where winemaker and estate head Emmanuel Reynaud is based. Their Cotes du Rhone Grande Résérve, technically declassified Vacqueyras, is 80% grenache planted in 1955 and 20% syrah planted between 1981-1996 in a west-facing sandy vineyard. The syrah is aged in used 600-liter oak casks for around two years, and the grenache is aged in concrete.
2014 is characterized by charismatic and refreshing fruit, with strawberries and raspberries just picked from the vine and still warm from the summer sun as the aromatic stars, and a terrific supporting cast of tea roses, parma violets, and angostura bitters. A long finish, with delicate tannin and plenty of acidity to balance. You could cellar this for a few years and be very pleased, but we also wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to open it now. A wine to open when you want to fall in love again with wine.
This wine is a pre-sale with expected arrival of end of year.