Very light in colour with a lifted nose of tobacco, herbs and red fruit. For me, distinctly blue fruit (plums and blueberries) with non-intrusive levels of acidity and tannin and overall just a more cool expression than any other Cotes du Rhone I’ve ever had. Delicious.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
[This flight included the 2015 and 2016 Tours Cotes du Rhone as well as the 2012 Tours Vacqueyras] Pronounced with a sweet fragrant nose showing slight menthol, dark red fruit, strawberry and raspberry jam. Palate matching the nose with cracked black pepper, a menthol bitterness on the back end, black thick skinned fruits, pluots and plums, morello cherries, hint of licorice and fresh dough. Still showing young as there was not much tertiary development at this time. With 30 minutes in the glass, this continued to open up even more as everything began mingling. I preferred this over the 2016 as this was showing more balanced and just in a great spot. 94+
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Rayas / Pignan / Fonsalette / Tours Tasting (Scottsdale, Arizona USA): A wonderful start to a large tasting of Rayas/Tours/Pignan/Fonsalette. This is quite exotic but well defined, pushing the boundaries without being over the top. The aroma of sweet tobacco is a classic signature of this wine, which I quite like. Today this was better than 2016, which seems like it's in desperate need of more time.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Still quite acidic and tight with a higher than normal sugar content. More so compared to the beautiful 16/17 vintages. Either cellar this wine further however I am uncertain if it will improve over time. Just seems like a very unbalanced vintage.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
This is a great wine in my opinion. However it’s not like any other Côtes du Rhône in existence. Medium-full bodied. Blood orange colour, as other have mentioned. Definitely some sweetness on the palate but also a lot of herbal meatiness. Just a delicious wine, but questionable QPR at secondary market price.
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No
/ Comment
Professional reviews have copyrights and you can view them here for your personal use only as private content. To view pro reviews you must either subscribe to a pre-integrated publication or manually enter reviews below. Learn more.
3/26/2024 - thefoxinthebox Likes this wine:
Very light in colour with a lifted nose of tobacco, herbs and red fruit. For me, distinctly blue fruit (plums and blueberries) with non-intrusive levels of acidity and tannin and overall just a more cool expression than any other Cotes du Rhone I’ve ever had. Delicious.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
1/5/2024 - Michael Hung Likes this wine: 94 Points
[This flight included the 2015 and 2016 Tours Cotes du Rhone as well as the 2012 Tours Vacqueyras]
Pronounced with a sweet fragrant nose showing slight menthol, dark red fruit, strawberry and raspberry jam. Palate matching the nose with cracked black pepper, a menthol bitterness on the back end, black thick skinned fruits, pluots and plums, morello cherries, hint of licorice and fresh dough. Still showing young as there was not much tertiary development at this time. With 30 minutes in the glass, this continued to open up even more as everything began mingling. I preferred this over the 2016 as this was showing more balanced and just in a great spot. 94+
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
1/5/2024 - Alex G. Likes this wine:
Rayas / Pignan / Fonsalette / Tours Tasting (Scottsdale, Arizona USA): A wonderful start to a large tasting of Rayas/Tours/Pignan/Fonsalette. This is quite exotic but well defined, pushing the boundaries without being over the top. The aroma of sweet tobacco is a classic signature of this wine, which I quite like. Today this was better than 2016, which seems like it's in desperate need of more time.
2 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
11/17/2023 - LB88 wrote: 90 Points
Still quite acidic and tight with a higher than normal sugar content. More so compared to the beautiful 16/17 vintages. Either cellar this wine further however I am uncertain if it will improve over time. Just seems like a very unbalanced vintage.
1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment
10/13/2023 - mikelikewine Likes this wine: 93 Points
This is a great wine in my opinion. However it’s not like any other Côtes du Rhône in existence. Medium-full bodied. Blood orange colour, as other have mentioned. Definitely some sweetness on the palate but also a lot of herbal meatiness. Just a delicious wine, but questionable QPR at secondary market price.
3 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Comment