2011 Chateau Rayas, Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Tasted in three components: #1: from "the heart of Rayas"; sexy, intensely perfumed aromas and flavors of red berries and flowers, with a spicy overtone. Juicy and sharply focused, with very good energy and appealing sweetness. Finishes with excellent power and lingering floral and spice notes. #2: from a parcel of called Coucheron; showing more minerality and lift than the first sample, offering tangy redcurrant and bitter cherry qualities and a sexy note of floral pastilles. Fine-grained and precise, with strong finishing cut and impressive clarity. #3: from a parcel that Reynaud called Le Ban; much darker in profile, offering cherry compote and blackberry aromas and a hint of licorice. Chewy and densely packed dark fruit flavors are braced by juicy acidity and pick up minerality with some air. Rich yet lively, with strong back-end grip.

From a bottle purchased in the Rhône, the 2011 Châteauneuf Du Pape Reserve is a pretty, perfumed Rayas that shows the more moderately concentrated, open, and complex style of the vintage. Translucent ruby-hued, with a great nose of sweet kirsch liqueur, white pepper, dried flowers, and Provençal herbs, it hits the palate with medium-bodied richness, a layered, silky, seductive mouthfeel, soft tannins, and outstanding length. Almost reminding me of the 2008, it's a much lighter style of Rayas that checks in well behind the truly great vintages here, but it still brings that “je ne sais quoi” Rayas character that's impossible to find outside of this hollowed terroir. Enjoy bottles any time over the coming decade or so.

Tasted from bottle at the domaine. Pale, sweet but very rich on the palate – almost heavy. It seems to have gained lots of weight since I last tasted it. Very rich and long. It will presumably be some time before this comes to market. UK importers OW Loeb expect to be able to offer the 2008 next year… (JR)