Chateauneuf du Pape Reserve 2011

The wine in this vintage

2011 in the southern Rhône was a warm, early vintage, giving fruity, supple, relatively approachable wines, less structured than the great neighbouring years. The 2011 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape interprets this profile with customary elegance: strawberry, raspberry, cherry, rose petals, spice and Mediterranean herbs, with a round, silky palate and fine tannins. Antonio Galloni rated it 94 points. Despite the sunny vintage, the wine is still evolving slowly and has not reached full maturity; a few more years in the cellar will complete its complexity. It offers an elegant reading of a sunny, early year, with the domaine's typical restraint.

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

• 94 Antonio Galloni

Technical details

Producer

Château Rayas

Region

Rhone

Country

Francia

Type

Rosso

Vintage

2011

When to drink

Not yet at its peak

Critics' average

94/100

Sizes

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

eWibe code

0330111