May 3, 2024 - A Private Rhone Paulee in London: Strawberry, fennel, white pepper nose. Aged fruit. 20 sec finish. Sweet fruit explosion!! Not quite as magical as bottles of the ‘07 and ‘05 that I have had but still magic. Truly the best Rhone winemaker. 96
April 23, 2024 - At a Rhone wine theme dinner with friends, served semi blind, thought a 05 Rayas, delicious, most people WOTN
April 22, 2024 - PNP. Med to deep garnet. Lifted crushed red fruit (strawberries) with spices, an elegant nuanced mouthfeel, soft tannins, and long finish which fans out. Served blind in a lineup of South American wines. Will develop more, but very good now. A wine to contemplate
March 9, 2024 - Magnificent kaleidoscopic nose of blood orange, crushed strawberry, raspberry and spices. We keep coming back to it. When the tasting begins on the nose, it’s promising!
The palate has a very fine attack, on strawberries and raspberries. Then everything comes together, in a very serene way, we then start with the blood orange and it unfolds with spices and earthy aromas. The juice is ample but in the Burgundian way, meaning that it is difficult to detect the warmth of Chateauneuf despite the intensity of the wine. On the other hand, the finish is much more alcoholic, but still integrated into the whole so that it remains consistent with the wine which remains harmonious over a long length.
Excellent, I lack a marker on Rayas to say if it is great or not, but it remains an experience that will not be forgotten.
January 20, 2024 - Internationale du Gout - Vertical series #1: Rayas dinner with Morrocan fusion food; 1/19/2024-1/20/2024 (Singapore): Matched against the Rayas 11 - this was known to be a winner going in...I and other participants had it before and it is in contention for the better Rayas of the 2000's. The nose! The Rayas nose but one or two notches more explosive and expressive than the next contender in that department. The palate is phenomenal but would not prove the most complex of the evening. It easily dispatched the '11 in the same flight.
December 11, 2023 - @ Wu’s Wonton King NYC.WOTN. Poopy, earthy, exotic spices, nuanced, long 45+ second finish, crazy amounts of residual tannins left in glass and bottle. Lots of metallic iron notes. Unique and unmistakably Rayas.
December 6, 2023 - Opened a 2nd bottle in less than a month. This was fresher, much like my friend’s bottle on 12 Nov. Served immediately after popping but should have give it an hour or so to breathe. Blue berries, grape skin bitterness initially. After some time, became perfumed with notes of dried flowers and potpourri. Strawberries, sandalwood. Rayas is Rayas
December 2, 2023 - Exceptional nose, perfumed like a bouquet of roses, and evolved in bottle as the evening went by. Best to not decant to preserve the delicate structure.
The taste was fresh, sweet white fruit, rind, mild spice. Medium textured, with every sip, your palate realizes this is a special wine.
The finish is long and savory.
November 18, 2023 - In a flight of 04, 05 & 06 at the Pressoir Rayas dinner. For me 15-20 years is the sweet spot for Rayas reserve. It's when it shows all its volume, spice, pepper and fruit but is firmly in its drinking winner. At this dinner, the 10 was great but not near ready and the ones from the 90s were not as fresh as I might like so this flight really did it for me. The 06 was the surprise of the tasting for me. I thought it came in just behind the 05 for current drinking and definitely has improved over the last few years, with richer and sharper flavor profile. Maybe this was another underestimated vintage coming between two more famous ones, but it is really showing its stuff right now. Very layered wine with floral and secondary tones starting to emerge. Really a treat. I'm lucky to have a few bottles left and I'll drink them over the next 5 years or so.
November 12, 2023 - Blind tasting and 2 bottles of Rayas 2006, what a coincidence! My bottle was slightly more advanced. Initially light on the palate but gained quite weight over the night. A few of the folks opined this was the more ready bottle. Wild strawberry notes, black berries, slight kirsch, dried flowers. Brilliant!
Notably, the other bottle was fresher, bigger but tighter. Blue berries and grape skin bitterness on the finish. Very enjoyable nonetheless!