La Tablee: Rayas Dinner with Gregory Castells & Martine Saunier

One of my favorite producers and so I jumped on the ticket for this dinner very quickly because it was obvious to be one of the first ones to sell out. Wines all from the cellar of the distributors so great provenance. Food was not quite I'd hoped it would be, but I guess in some ways hard for this wine to not outshine the food.

• NV Philipponnat Champagne Royale Réserve Brut

  France, Champagne

  Started all of our tastings this week with this wine which is nice and very drinkable and very well priced. Good way to get the palate warmed up!

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• 2007 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc Réserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Generally I'm a huge fan of the blanc and generally I find that I can't tell with Rayas when its a warm vintage because of the way the wines are made. That being said, here there was more body than I normally expect. A little bit more extra floral. Hint of hand soap. Still an underlying elegance but I'd say not the best vintage ever of the white. Enjoyable nonetheless and happy to see we have a bunch of these bottles.

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COUNTRY PATE
cherry shallot jam

The best course of the pairings (the others tended to take away a bit from the wine). I suppose cherry could be considered 'cheating' by some because it's in the obvious category but I appreciated it here.

• 2010 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Pignan Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Drank this wine twice in one week which is always a treat! Not quite the standout that the one over the weekend was but I think it's more the company (that was the only Rayas and in that circumstance the elegance and finesse just jumps out). This was very fresh with red fruits and crispness and oddly a touch of the garrigue which surprised me a bit. Pignan is a vineyard with red clay (as opposed to classic Rayas which is all sand).

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• 2006 Château Rayas Côtes du Rhône Château de Fonsalette Cuvée Syrah

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône

  Fun to try one of the rarer wines from the estate. We don't often do the Syrah and yet it is a tasty one. This was still on the young side. Perhaps a bit more alcohol. From a vineyard with sandstone, rocks, and sandy soil which is quite cold and allows for a very long hang time on the vines. It's interesting how very light and elegant a Syrah can get and this wine always shows that.

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GRILLED SALMON
bernaise, spinach, garlic nougatine

• 2010 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Beautiful fruit, herbal, balanced. This is still young and that comes across as being a bit more primary, but it's still a really beautiful wine. If we had some I'd hold it for many years.

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• 2009 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Again just a beautiful wine. A bit lighter than the '10. More elegant. More tea leaves and slightly herbal notes. Really lovely.

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• 2008 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  In a tasting of Rayas I would not have guessed that the '08 would be the one to stand out from the pack but this wine definitely did. It's just awesome. More tea leaves, more elegance, more freshness. Every one of these was vibrant but this took it to another level. Still quite young and not ready for drinking but it's awesome.

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CRISPY HERITAGE CHICKEN
green beans, garlic and ginger brittle

• 2007 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Splitting hairs but this came on the heels of the '08 and wasn't quite as evocative as that wine. Still all herbal and freshness. There's a touch more heat here but it's balanced by and elegant fruit. Enjoyable.

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• 2006 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  More of the darker fruit style - like a Boysenberry. This was also lovely with a great finesse to it. A wine we bought some years ago for a very different price than what it trades for today and I suspect will need quite a bit of time to be what it could be. Great all the same.

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• 2005 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Lots of repetition in my notes because lots of similarity in the wines. There is a definite Rayas character that comes through. All about the elegance and slightly ethereal and fresh. More fruit here.

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• 2004 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Again still quite a bit on the young side. Some more herbal and very fresh and very pretty. Hint of floral. Drinks very well.

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SELECTION OF ARTISINAL CHEESES

• 1995 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  The standout for me among the last set of wines. At this point it's starting to have a decent amount of age and while I think this wine could go for a lot longer it's definitely starting to get a hint more secondary and developed. Clean and fresh and berries and almost a minty style to it. Lots of herbs and tea leaves. Drinking very nicely.

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• 1994 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  Tougher year and here there was a bit of brett which I'm not totally against but it's harder in the Rayas where the appealing comes from this clean fresh elegant style. It took away a bit. Not throwing it out of my glass, but not as good as the '95.

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• 1989 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve

  France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Châteauneuf-du-Pape

  From a magnum. This was the wine I was most excited about since this was the wine that totally blew me away at a tasting we did a few years ago and it's not one that you get to try that often. So it's possible that some of this note is that my expectations were so high esp with how much I loved all of the wines before but this was just very good. Again maybe a bit of brett to this which took away from that overall elegance. It's more evolved. Fruit is a bit less pure and sweet. Still a wine that I'd really like, but the '95 and '08 showed better on this night.

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Did not end up where I expected but two favorites were the '95 and the '08. '08 was really something special esp in the line-up of all of the young wines. Glad to see that we have a few bottles of it.

Overall a wonderful evening. Hard not to want to listen to Martine's stories for hours (even if we have heard some of them before). What an amazing set of experiences.

Many thanks to Pressoir for setting it up.