2008 Chateauneuf du Pape Pignan
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Tasting notes
Bright red. High-pitched aromas of redcurrant, raspberry, rose petal, and Asian spices, lifted by a mineral quality. Suave, silky and alluringly sweet, offering penetrating red fruit flavors and slow-mounting florality. This refined, focused wine stains the palate with perfumed flavors of raspberry and garrigue. This has the juicy acidity and spine to reward cellaring but I find it awfully delicious now.
Critic scores
Average Score
Robert Parker
Robert Parker
More reviews and scores
The light ruby-colored, medium to full-bodied, soft 2008 Pignan Chateauneuf du Pape exhibits a perfume of ground pepper, lavender, Provencal herbs and kirsch. It is ideal for drinking over the next 7-8 years. Rayas has one of the most unusual terroirs in Chateauneuf du Pape with sandy soils and a more northerly oriented exposure. To understand these wines, one must realize that this is a cool-climate terroir in a warm appellation. Emmanuel Reynaud, the nephew of the late Jacques Reynaud, has now been the sole winemaker and administrator here for 13 vintages and he appears to have settled in comfortably. His 2009s have turned out well in this challenging, drought plagued vintage. The white wines are always intriguing. In some vintages they are absolutely spectacular as well as long-lived and in others they are somewhat bizarre with a tendency to oxidize. 2009 appears to be a top-flight year for the whites. I tasted the 2009 reds from an assortment of small barrels, demi-muids and foudres and putting together a score range takes some degree of extrapolation based on seeing all these different component parts. Importer: Martine’s Wines, Novato, CA; tel. (415) 883-0400
Vivid red. Seductively perfumed aromas of raspberry and cherry preserves, potpourri and white pepper, with a sexy note of star anise gaining strength with air. Very fresh, finely etched red fruit flavors show no rough edges. Strikingly pure and focused on the finish, which repeats the floral notes and lingers with alluring spiciness.
The light ruby-colored, medium to full-bodied, soft 2008 Pignan Chateauneuf du Pape exhibits a perfume of ground pepper, lavender, Provencal herbs and kirsch. It is ideal for drinking over the next 7-8 years. Oct 2010, www.robertparker.com
About the producer
Ch. Rayas is a cult name in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. The wines – pure, silken expressions of Grenache with distinctive perfume – are revered for their singularity and fiercely collected. Made by Emmanuel Reynaud and renowned for their ageability, they have become some of the region's most sought-after.