Why is Rayas so singular?

[Andrew_K]

Why? That’s what all the worlds best vineyards provide. Lafleur, Haut Brion, Petrus, La Tache, Latour, Chave, Coche Corton etc…

Totally agree. But how could you forget RC of all vineyards?!

[A_Songeur]

Excuse my ignorance. What Vatan do you refer to?

[dcornutt]

Excuse my ignorance. What Vatan do you refer to?

Edmund Vatan from Sancerre

[Scott_Brunson]

What about the blanc?

[William_Kelley]

What about the blanc?

Anything you want to know in particular? Grenache Blanc plus Clairette, mainly grown in Le Levant if I’m not mistaken. Since the 1990s, it has been vinified and raised in tank (IIRC enameled steel).

[Jonathan_Loesberg]

I was going to respond to this, but William said almost all I would have, except for one thing. There are other producers that have similarly sandy vineyards that are cheek by jowl with Rayas. Only Chapelle St. Théodoric seems to me to have some of the same qualities. I love Charvin and I can see why people say that it has similarities but, really, I think it is its own wine and its vineyards, though Northern, are different. I think winemaker practices are as important as vineyards, particularly, since, as others noticed, there is a Reynaud style that one can see even in the des Tours wines. Honestly compels me to say that I have only had a handful of Rayas, mostly due to the kindness of friends. I have, however, visited it once and had a tasting with Jacques Reynaud. He let me in when he found out I taught Zola and we bonded over Germinal.

[larry_schaffer]

Certain wines have a reputation for transcending their appellations or varieties. Clos Rougeard. Vatan. d’Auvenay Auxey, perhaps. But nothing quite like Rayas, which is orders of magnitude more revered and expensive than anything else in Chateauneuf – and becoming dearer by the day. And more than that, Rayas is qualitatively quite unique and distinctive compared with other wines the the appellation. Which raises the questions: What is it about Rayas’s terroir, and/or its viticulture and winemaking, that makes it unique? It it replicable? And relatedly, why can’t anyone come close to replicating what Rayas is doing? The incentive is surely there. Is anyone really trying to make wines in the same style that approach what Rayas is doing? Who?

Just genuinely curious here. I used to love CndP, but like many of us, I have basically stopped buying them at some point over the last decade. But I’m interested in whether there are producers I’m missing.

I wrote about just this question in 2016: The singularity of Château Rayas – William Kelley

There are a lot of things going on. I think if you look at what the des Tours wines, Fonsalette, and Pignan all share with Rayas, I think that tells you how much the Reynaud style of winemaking is responsible. Low yields, super late harvesting, fully crushed fruit that’s not destemmed, submerged cap macerations with pump-overs for about two weeks, and élevage in neutral wood of a variety of formats are the rudiments of the approach. There are surely some other secrets, too, as no one else to my mind has really been able to hit the same notes (I guess some vintages of Charvin and Chapelle de St Théoderic would be two of the leading contenders).

The next step is to look at what Pignan and Rayas have in common: because both share very similar geology sand, and agglomerated sand / friable sandstone (that the locals call “safre” [sometimes seemingly spelt “saffre”]); and an unusually cool mesoclimate, partly because most of the land the Reynauds own is left as coniferous forest, not planted to vines (both sites are surrounded by trees). Clearly, these two wines are different from the Château des Tours and Fonsalette wines, despite sharing the Reynaud signature, and the respects in which they differ are, I think, owing to the site (there is also the fact that they are more or less pure Grenache, unlike the other Reynaud wines).

The differences between Pignan and Rayas seem to me to be substantially owing to the fact that Pignan has a single uniform exposition, whereas Rayas straddles a small valley and so has three different expositions. The three blocks of Rayas capture respectively the morning, midday and afternoon sun, which I think helps make sense of Rayas’ greater plenitude and aromatic range. In other words, it’s a single climat that delivers the advantages of a blended wine.

Thanks for the additional info. So Rayas is 100% whole cluster but the berries are crushed before fermentation - is that correct?

It would seem to me that the late harvest picking, which is not surprising with Grenache, would be challenging in the cooler mesoclimates that they have, especially if you have extremes in weather.

Cheers.

[Scott_Brunson]

What about the blanc?

Anything you want to know in particular? Grenache Blanc plus Clairette, mainly grown in Le Levant if I’m not mistaken. Since the 1990s, it has been vinified and raised in tank (IIRC enameled steel).

Never had the white so I was just curious about impressions.

[Keith_Levenberg]

Certain wines have a reputation for transcending their appellations or varieties. Clos Rougeard. Vatan. d’Auvenay Auxey, perhaps. But nothing quite like Rayas, which is orders of magnitude more revered and expensive than anything else in Chateauneuf

I doubt this premise is true. Is Rayas really more expensive relative to its appellation than Monfortino, Petrus, Romanee-Conti, Coche CC, every Leroy, Screagle, Unico, Keller, Egon Muller, etc. etc. I don’t think so, but if it is (I’m not current on Rayas pricing) it’s a recent thing. It’s true, though, that nobody makes better CdP.

[larry_schaffer]

It’s tough to say that no one makes better CdP though - since neither Rayas nor Pignan are ‘traditional’ in any way. They are 'singular in their make up and expression, but oh so different than all others. Tough to compare with wines like Beaucastel . . .

[Tom_Reddick]

With Rayas I think the answer is pretty simple- it is a combination of both a very pure expression of site and an approach to winemaking that yields a very sexy result. It is a wine that both a total terroir nerd and a total newbie will find breathtaking.

[Jeff_Leve]

since neither Rayas nor Pignan are ‘traditional’ in any way.

Larry, why do you say that?

[B_Buzzini]

since neither Rayas nor Pignan are ‘traditional’ in any way.

Larry, why do you say that?

100% Grenache?

[Robert.A.Jr]

Certain wines have a reputation for transcending their appellations or varieties. Clos Rougeard. Vatan. d’Auvenay Auxey, perhaps. But nothing quite like Rayas, which is orders of magnitude more revered and expensive than anything else in Chateauneuf

I doubt this premise is true. Is Rayas really more expensive relative to its appellation than Monfortino, Petrus, Romanee-Conti, Coche CC, every Leroy, Screagle, Unico, Keller, Egon Muller, etc. etc. I don’t think so, but if it is (I’m not current on Rayas pricing) it’s a recent thing. It’s true, though, that nobody makes better CdP.

New release appears to go for around $1500. Seems to me that the price has doubled these last couple years. I paid less than half of that for a 2008 about two years ago.

[YLee]

I said Rayas would go over $1000 a bottle in USA. Many doubted it. Bought few for $380 back then. Wish I bought everything I could find.

[larry_schaffer]

since neither Rayas nor Pignan are ‘traditional’ in any way.

Larry, why do you say that?

100% Grenache?

Exactly - when someone says ‘traditional CdP’, I’m assuming that they are talking about a traditional blend dominated with Grenache but with Syrah, Mourvedre and maybe a few other things.

Cheers

[Jeff_Leve]

since neither Rayas nor Pignan are ‘traditional’ in any way.

Larry, why do you say that?

100% Grenache?

Lots of CNDP are 100% Grenache, though I am not sure why that is traditional, or not. And Rayas dates back to 1880. Isn’t that far back enough to be traditional?

[larry_schaffer]

Jeff,

Big picture here - when someone says ‘CdP’, one normally does think 100% Grenache. Not sure why this is so difficult to understand?

Cheers

[Curtis_Chen]

I said Rayas would go over $1000 a bottle in USA. Many doubted it. Bought few for $380 back then. Wish I bought everything I could find.

Then why’d you say you stopped buying years ago?

[Jeff_Leve]

Jeff,

Big picture here - when someone says ‘CdP’, one normally does think 100% Grenache. Not sure why this is so difficult to understand?

Cheers

Traditional and 100% Grenache are not related IMO… And as Rayas dates back to 1880 or so, that should qualify as traditional.