Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve 2005

The wine in this vintage

2005 is regarded as a great vintage in the southern Rhône, with a warm but not excessive summer and wines of structure, concentration and considerable ageing potential, rather austere at first. The 2005 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape combines this solidity with the house's typical finesse: cherry, raspberry, plum, kirsch, spice, leather and garrigue, with a full palate, dense but now polished tannins and a long finish. Wine Spectator rated it 91 points. After years of slow evolution, the wine is now at its peak, with a fine balance of ripe fruit and tertiary complexity: the ideal moment to open it.

The producer · Château Rayas

Château Rayas is perhaps the most enigmatic and revered domaine in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Owned by the Reynaud family since the early twentieth century, it built its legend under Louis Reynaud and then his son Jacques, a reclusive genius who died in 1997; since then it has been run by his nephew Emmanuel Reynaud, who also manages Château des Tours and Fonsalette. The domaine is unlike any other in the appellation: vineyards enclosed by woodland, largely north-facing, on sandy soils rather than the famous rolled pebbles, planted to Grenache and cropped at tiny yields. Winemaking is artisanal and makes no concessions to modernity, with ageing in old casks in a deliberately spartan cellar. The result is a Grenache unique in the world, closer in finesse to great Burgundy than to the typical power of the southern Rhône: fragrant, silky, transparent and able to age for decades. Rare and made in minute quantities, Rayas wines are among the most sought-after in France.

Critics' scores

• 91 Wine Spectator

Technical details

Producer

Château Rayas

Region

Rhone

Country

Francia

Type

Rosso

Vintage

2005

When to drink

At its peak

Critics' average

91/100

Sizes

75 cl, Magnum 150 cl, Case of 6 × 75 cl

eWibe code

0330105