Chateau des Tours, Vacqueyras

fantastic - bold refined and Rayas in every way. Can easily go another 7-10 years

2008 vintage

A truly great wine from the late Emmanuel Reynaud. Perfect mastery of this extremely difficult vintage. As is often the case with these wines, it needed time, and the attack is splendid! Plums, black fruits (black cherry, blueberry), a touch of black olive... no heaviness despite the vintage. A masterful work 🙇🏼‍♂️. What a wine!

2003 vintage

Nice with subtle sweetness, with a little spice and balanced wine! Good length and lovely to drink now.....

2011 vintage

Much better showing than my last one. Can't get enough of the wines from this domaine

2011 vintage

Ouvert 9 heures d’avance, couleur pale comme toujours, fraises, un peu de pamplemousse et d’orange sanguine, roses, belle signature Reynaud, très frais, avec une longueur surprenante, j’ai adoré. 92-93 Opened 9 hours before, pale color as always, strawberry, blood orange, some grapefruit, some roses, the same signature, very fresh and gorgeous, good length too, a pleasure to drink.

2011 vintage

Dried prunes, sweet plums. Slightly raisiny but wow nose is explosive. Smoke and cinnamon too. High alc hits you immediately, but med bodied, again dried prunes, warms your throat but balancing med acidity. Not too long but a unique wine it is. Lots of earth, very leathery, shrooms towards the end.

2003 vintage

Bookclub (served blind)--Counselor Seiber (Olea in Newport Beach) : Served blind. Juicy, nice polish, spicy red fruit, legibly jammy and I just love the spice feature in this wine. Very good.

2011 vintage

Decanted off considerable sediment 4 hours in advance and gave a couple round trips through an aerating decanter before serving. The first of this vintage we've opened. This bottle was big, ripe and fully mature with nicely rounded tannins. This had enough structure to be great for a few more years. Some Tours Vacqueyras have a touch of the etherial qualities that mark their Fonsalette/Rayas cousins - but this bottle was dominated by its rich ripeness with a touch of …

2004 vintage

Pretty aromatics (wild strawberry and garrigue, with a touch of animale funk). Translucent pale ruby robe. Effusive fruit with a savory core. Neither overly weighty or concentrated nor especially extracted. Delicious, if unlike other Vacqueyras. More high-toned than earthy; if looking for a bruiser perhaps it’s worth looking elsewhere.

2011 vintage

Decanted off considerable sediment 4 hours in advance. This was an excellent bottle with the ripeness and tannins now rounded & mellowed into a delicious balance.

2003 vintage

light red berries, dried flowers and orange peel. i absolutely love this wine. Reynaud makes Grenache like no one else!

2011 vintage

Light translucent red in color, flavors of cherries, spice and currants. Showed much more heat/alcohol on the palate but finishes with good length.

2011 vintage

Based on this bottle, not a strong vintage for this wine. The notes that I expect from this wine -- strawberry, raspberry -- were there, but it was just all rather dilute. Nothing faulty with the bottle, just not enough of a good thing. I only bought a few, and this is one of those (rare) times that my restraint has treated me well. A recent bottle of 2010 far outperformed this.

2011 vintage

Oxygénation lente 36 heures. Très joli Vacqueyras, typique des arômes d'Emanuel Reynaud. Plus kéger que la plupart des autres millésimes et cela lui va très bien.

2008 vintage

Ouvert 3 heures à l’avance. Nez envoûtant et classique de bergamote, de garrigue, du poivre, un peu de dattes. La bouche est de corps moyen, avec une texture plutôt gracieuse pour une appellation qui n’est pas connue pour ça. Les tanins sont fondus, on ne sent pas le (traître)15% d’alcool. Il affiche surtout une magnifique complexité aromatique, un véritable souk d’épices, un concentré de Provence, dans une finale un brin rustique mais très longue et savoureuse. Un vin fascinant, un …

2008 vintage

Slowly arriving and certainly a ripe vintage for this wine, but boy is this luxurious, exuberant Grenache. There’s certainly kirsch and Christmas spices on the nose, brown fruit notes. But there’s also flowers and mint and clear red fruit. Rich and ripe cherry fruited palate, pepper notes, spices. There’s lift and air, but make no mistake this is not a ballerina. I love this, and I think there is still 3-5 years to the best window to drink this. Needs …

2003 vintage

This bottle was a bit unbalanced. Lots of expected Tours elements but they seemed to exaggerate themselves one by one instead of being merged into a transcendent whole.

2003 vintage

This wine needs lots of air. I would consider opening this the day before and leaving it in the cellar. Or double decanting this wine hours before drinking. My own experience after 24 hours and drinking what’s left of 1/3 bottle highlights how much more refined and balanced the wine was on the 2nd day!

2011 vintage

Holiday Wine Party at Tom & Bruna's (Edina, MN) : Ok coolest wine I have tasted this year. Color looks like a 50 year old wine. Wow dried flowers, floral, crushed pepper, Garrigue, anise and earth. Super complex wine and polarizing.

2011 vintage

I’ve had many vintages of this one. This is one of the best. Absolutely gorgeous now and will stay like that for many years

2011 vintage

Oh, that Reynaud nose. White pepper, strawberries and raspberries, bitter garrigue, hints of dried fruits and an earthiness. Medicine cabinet, cough drops, mint. With air comes sweet, Burgundian cherries and sweet licorice. The nose gets even warmer, more hospitable, candied, divine. Rich mouthfeel, but lifted. Warm, but cool and bright. A wine of antinomies. Cherry liqueur, strawberry and raspberry, warm lingering sweetness. Medicinal herbs, dusty pepper. Lovely, lovely, lovely.

2011 vintage

Dank piney herb jams smothered in strawberry pulp. Governed by fossilized tars and pungent roots.

2011 vintage

On open this is a bit closed and shows slightly hot, but on day 2 this opens up into that classic Reynaud strawberry, pine gorgeousness. Best at cellar temp. A little more acid and a tiny bit less alcohol and this would be a home run.

2011 vintage

Just stunning, has the (usual) telltale notes of cherry/raspberry fruit and white pepper. It’s so fresh and sharp, immense material and so satisfying to drink.

2004 vintage

Reynaud Tasting (Freiheit Vinothek, Ulm, Germany) : Glass: Spiegelau Universal All wines tasted blind/blind, opened a few hours before and decanted right before the tasting. Clear, deep ruby-garnet color. Deep, dense nose, some sweet fruit, spicy, balanced and nice. On the palate round, warm, sweet ripe fruit and spices. Fine tannin, nice texture, long finish. 91

2004 vintage

I am puzzled that I have no notes on this on, as I remember drinking it on several occasions - most prominently at a Tribeca-restaurant, a bottle bought in Warehouse Wine&Spirits; it was a long, long time ago, and a pruny affair as I remember it, and yes, this is still very varm, very ripe with plenty of sweetness, dark spice and local feel. But quite lovely. Tasted over two days, no sign of decline which in itself is a …

2003 vintage

Saturday hangout at Domaine (Chicago, IL) : Served double blind. Strawberry juice and white pepper can only mean grenache, and the relatively thin, Arbois-like texture made the producer guess pretty immediate as well. Delicate and not messed up at all like the Pialades that I had a few years ago. A bottle drinking very well right now.

2011 vintage

Sunday wines at home (Chicago, IL) : Reserve. Corked.

1989 vintage

Sunday wines at home (Chicago, IL) : Reserve. Meaty and slightly smoky with appropriate weight for a Vacqueras (for some reason in my mind I thought this was a Côtes du Rhône and was very surprised at the tannic structure here. Meaty black fruit, this is mostly a wine of structure at this point. More interesting than good; glad I got to try it but it's getting long in the tooth. Drink up.

1989 vintage

Au Toqué, ouvert 24 heures à l'avance! Nez tellement typé, agrumes, garrigue et fraises des champs. La bouche est gourmande et complexe, pas de dentelle ici, mais cette longue aération lui donne une belle patine. Savoureux, d’une belle profondeur, délicieux. 92 pts.

2011 vintage

Vin plutôt décevant. Il a vieilli prématurément. On retrouve toutefois les marqueurs de son géniteur. Le Fonsalette 2008 bu en parallèle présentait de nombreuses similitudes mais était plus élégant dans tous les domaines.

2008 vintage

N - stemmy M - savory. Rich but quite stemmy, loads of flavor, rather vegetal overall, a bit reminiscent of a digestif.

2011 vintage

Having drank a near perfect bottle of Chateau des Tours Vacqueyras where bubble gum, ripe red fruits, ripe strawberry dominated the nose due the carbonic maceration process, I don’t find any of the nose in this bottle. In fact, I felt it have past its prime and suppose to drink earlier. I can find notes of tea, spices, slight mint, cooked red fruits.

2003 vintage

This was beautiful crushed strawberries with depth and concentration. Will mature and only get better.

2011 vintage

Sold Benchmark #4

2004 vintage

Very Rayas on the nose, that's all I can sum it up. Violets, provencal herbs, loaded with sweet elegant fruits with just a touch of warm earth. you might think this is a light wine on the entry, but it keeps growing on the palate and showing the structured behind the rich fruits with ripe tannin. However, thanks to the producer style, this has the lightness that you don't even think / feel this is a wine with 15% alcohol. …

2011 vintage

Still on an upward slope in my view, but certainly warm and rich with notes of kirsch. Susanne finds it too pruny and oxidized. See my last note.

2003 vintage

A nice blend of ethereal feel but genuine underlying stuffing. Cherry with lighter red flecks against a dark scorched earth background. A little warmth especially with air, but sits fine with the accompanying richness. Very enjoyable ***1/2+

2011 vintage

Still enjoying this wine but not sure whether this will be a typical Tours long-hauler vintage (a recent 1999 Tours VdP rouge was comfortably in its prime). Given the 2003 weather this is a winemaking success. Relative to typical Tours this has more alcohol and roasted character - and goes great with roast lamb and potatoes.

2003 vintage

Bubblegum, candy floss, very pronounced nose, red dates, cooked red fruits, figs, prune. Medium+ tannin and acidity. Very interesting with good nose and palette.

2011 vintage

Getting better and better and probably still 5 years from reaching maturity. The fruit has settled down and while this is still ripe and somewhat warm, there is also some cool notes of raspberry liquor and mint and there’s freshness and acidity playing through. Wait for this to show its real face.

2003 vintage

I enjoyed this slightly less than a previous tasting. I was served this blind and I thought it was a very ripe, new world Pinot from California. Personally, I found this too sweet for my liking, on both the palate and the nose. The colour was as always with this producer, so much lighter than other southern Rhône. Shared by DrK

2011 vintage

Super ripe nose. Fruit forward. Lots of ripe strawberries and raspberries. Opulent. Luxurious. Very sweet on the palate too. From DrK

2011 vintage

Nose - black pepper, prune, stewed fruit nose Mouth - zippy black pepper infused fruit. Steaminess imparts a celery-anise flavor that is somewhat overpowering. Impressive power for being so light. Again reminscent of Rayas but only just...

2011 vintage

Popped and poured and enjoyed over 2 hours. The color leans toward pinkish red and the is slightly cloudy. The wine is still great though with notes of sweet jammy fruit and aromas plum and dark fruit. It also carries the finesse you expect from the winemaker. Drink now but no rush on these either.

2011 vintage

After I ran out of this, I went and found some more. I do love this wine. Heady red fruits, kirsch, garrigue, Provençal herbs, still has the creme brûlée finish. Gorgeous wine. Almost 15 yo and kicking butt!

2004 vintage

Semi blind tasted (knew the grapes varieties as it was a Grenache themed dinner), pretty lucky and guessed it was chateau des tours 2008, as it got that super distinctive (interesting) minty and exotic herbal nose, and cool light red colours, which was very similar to the 2014 vintage we recently had. The wine was opened at 4pm, after 5 hours of opening, it became pretty approachable on the palate, with wild light red berries, mint, fresh herbs, modest spices, …

2008 vintage

Still improving, interestingly. Still on kirsch, warm strawberry, plum notes. Good acidity, a hint of mint as well. Big scaled and ripe, needs a steak.

2003 vintage

Southern Rhone session. Tasted blind. Appearance is clear, pale intensity, garnet colour. Legs. Nose pronounced intensity, with aromas of intensely concentrated macerated red cherries, port, Provencal spices, white pepper, lavendar, raisins, slight barnyard and earth. Developed. On the palate, dry, piercing high acidity, high alcohol (15%), soft medium tannins, full body. Pronounced flavour intensity, with flavours of orange peel, port, sweet tea leaves, sweet macerated red cherries, kirsch, red licorice, red raisins, spice. Acidic long finish. Very good quality. Lots …

2008 vintage

Despite the great aroma of leather and red fruits, it was completely unbalanced in terms of alcohol level. I will try my second bottle to check for a better bottle quality...

2004 vintage

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Chateau des Tours, Vacqueyras

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