Anybody tasted this of late?
I have always kept this for the nostalgia of being the last one Jacques Reynaud vinified, but feel its time the cork got pulled
Thanks in advance
MT
I had it a couple of years ago and it seemed at peak. Structure nicely integrated, didn’t have the power or depth of other riper vintage Rayas, but it was really pretty and elegant. Think it’s a good time to pull the trigger.
Thanks Salilb,
I will post my thoughts
MT
Elegant and relatively for Rayas very light, you can tell not only from the lightness but also from the semi-herbal flavors that the ripeness is off, I think no point in holding unless you want a faded beauty. I love the fact that they did not try to make more out of this wine than was there, unlike almost every off vintage Napa cabernet I’ve tried. If I could afford it this is the kind of wine I would love to follow, honest to every vintage. Wait that describes a lot of Burgundy houses.
A Burgundy lover’s wine.
It was our wine of the flight among these:
1996 Ch. Rayas
1998 Ch. Rayas
(Fake) 2005 Ch. Rayas
2007 Pignan
2001 Pignan
It’s really a nice wine and in a great place when I had it more than a year ago. I personally ranked the 07 Pignan higher but they are very different. The 96 Rayas is truly at the edge of Burgundy.
Agreed, though the same could be said for Rayas in most vintages. The 2000 recently was outstanding - really elegant and graceful on the palate with a degree of finesse I never expect from CDP. (Suddenly I’m wondering when I should check into my '04 Pignan…)
1996 Rayas: medium mature colour, slightly herbal on the nose, but long, harmonious and balanced on the palate, very elegant, but no power-wine, 89p
(Vinfied by the late Jacques, but elevated and bottled by Emmanuel Reynaud)
Thanks everybody,
This was a lovely bottle that drank superbly for about 15 minute before it started to loose its staying power, very burgundian but the mid palate was all Grenache sweetness, time to drink up but a pleasurable experience all the same.
I opened 1999 Jamet after it, and as the Rayas fell away the Jamet just kept kicking into another gear as it gained more air and weight
MT
That 99 Jamet in particular, and all older Jamets, are suddenly super hot on the secondary market, skyrocketing prices.