2021 Rayas Domaine des Tours Reserve Rouge

The 2021 Domaine des Tours Réserve Rouge is a Grenache-driven red from Emmanuel Reynaud, whose family has owned this forty-hectare estate in the Vacqueyras area north of Sarrians since 1935. The late-harvest, old-vine Grenache that defines this cuvée comes from organically farmed parcels hand-plowed and tended with the same rigor that governs Reynaud's work at Château Rayas. The 2021 vintage in the southern Rhône delivered concentration and balance, and this bottling reflects both. Emmanuel Reynaud took over Domaine des Tours from his father Bernard in 1989. Bernard was the brother of Jacques Reynaud, the legendary recluse behind Château Rayas. The estate's name comes from the two tall towers that flank the old maison near Sarrians, north of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. All forty hectares are farmed organically, plowed by hand, and harvested weeks later than neighboring producers—a signature of the Reynaud approach across both estates. The focus is old-vine Grenache, with manual work in the vineyard and minimal intervention in the cellar. The family's reputation for making some of the southern Rhône's most sought-after wines rests on this uncompromising method. The wine shows red cherry, garrigue, and a savory thread that runs through the mid-palate. The tannins are present but fine, the fruit ripe without weight. The 2021 vintage's natural balance means the wine is structured enough for the cellar but approachable now if you decant it an hour before serving. Drink it with roasted lamb, herb-rubbed pork shoulder, or a cassoulet—anything that can meet the wine's earthy complexity and fine-grained tannin. In stock at Off Premise in Lincoln Park.