85 Rayas.... WOW

Southern Rhône at its highest level
Elegant and ethereal with just enough ripeness to give a sense of place.
Primary raspberry fruit with a touch of tar on the back palate flowing on to a lengthy finish that sat so well with the perfectly judged acidity.
A powerhouse ballerina that danced through my senses.
Best wine I have had so far this year, thanks for the invite Reece.

Sounds fantastic. I’ve never had a Rayas but hope to try one some day.

nice note. is the ullage and label in the bottle picture before it was opened?
Looks like SOS (signs of seepage)

One of my Top 5 lifetime wines. Thankfully I have one left, hope it shows just as well. From my notes our bottle took about 90 minutes to really open and hit it’s stride, what are your thoughts (we did not decant).

This is one of the greatest bottles I have ever had…up there with 1934 and 1978 DRC Romanee Conti.

Total bucket list wine.

Note - this was a mature Rayas … Rayas needs a lot of time to show best …

Don´t exspect such sensations from young/very young Rayas - although Rayas is always really good!

BTW: I agree absolutely about this vintage …
Did I tell already: a friend of mine detected 85 R on a wine list in the US (must have been somewhere in Georgia) …
drank one, wanted to buy the rest on the spot - no way … so he went there almost every other week and emptied all 10 remaining bottles over time !

I had this once, served to me blind and, at first, a little too cool. It seemed to me a great wine, and incredibly youthful. Without seeing the label, I would never have guessed it to be an 85. I would also not have guessed it to be a Rayas, but I’ve had too few Rayas to ever guess one blind.

I wouldn’t have been able to pick it if it was blind.

Yes there was evidence of a small amount of seepage

Reece decanted the bottle into a tall narrow decanter with a narrow neck, there was very little sediment, the wine improved for the 90 minutes it was in the decanter, if I had another bottle I would 100% decant for 60 minutes before starting to drink

Decanted into the old wine decanter from the new Jancis Robinson Collection. Yes, the wine had signs of seepage but from a long time ago. Cork was firm and ullage top shoulder. Stored previously, before I got it, in a passive cellar since then in a wine cabinet in my office. Will talk about this wine for a long time!

The 1985 Fonsalettes are pretty spectacular as well and a recent Cuvée Syrah showed lots of remaining life.

I’m lucky to have drunk many vintages of Rayas.
Never had a bad one.
78, 85, 89, 90 were all spectacular, the rest great.

Regarding possible seepage, Rayas bottles are notorious for wine splatter.
The story heard in the 90s is that Jacques Reynaud would hand-bottle which
resulted in the splatter.

1981 is also a candidate for greatness (my 1st R. ever) … and 1983 is also pretty good, though a bit more masculine.

Gerhard, have you had the 89 lately?

Great note. I had the pleasure of tasting this several years ago. In many ways it tastes and has the texture of Burgundy. So glorious and aromatic. Perfect concentration to me. I have never had the 1978 but that is the only Rayas I think would surpass this 1985. Each is unique. My favorites other than 1985 are 2001, 1989, 1990 and 1995. The 2001 is underrated and one of the best of the Rayas wines to me. I know this wasn’t the old man but this year really gave Rayas perfect conditions for their style of Chateauneuf. It is absolutely delicious. I wished I had more of this wine.

Yup very Burgundian in taste and texture, if I had to guess this wine blind I would have been way way off for both vineyard and vintage.

I had the 89 several times, last about 2 years ago in my Rayas/Fonsalette-tasting.
Maybe the greatest Rayas, on par with the 1990 (a matter of taste), but different … more powerful, but less seductive, more red cherries, less dark fruits … can go for ages if a sound bottle.

We have both the 89 and 90 coming up in our auctions. These will be in an online only auction 24th - 28th July. wineauctionroom.com

No offense intended … but I will never buy an older Rayas without perfectly documented proveniance … prior to 1995/96 the corks are not vintage branded and the triangle vintage label is easily exchanged … so one might open a bottle, being disapointed and will never know what he/she actually drank … and even an auction house isn´t able to check if it´s the true thing …

Once a friend brought a “1990 Rayas” that definitely was no 1990 … but probably a 1992 or 1993 (according to the taste and colour) …

Fortunately I know where my Rayas´are from …