3 | Wine | Rhone | Page 24

"The stunning 2006 Rayas Chateauneuf du Pape Blanc possesses aromas of acacia flowers, honeysuckle, melon, quince, and orange marmalade. Amazingly, this brilliant example of white Chateauneuf du Pape should last for 10-20 years." Reviewed by Robert Parker.

"Jam-packed with dark blackberry, currant and boysenberry fruit, but cuts like a knife, thanks to riveting acidity, a blaze of singed iron and a long, charcoal-studded finish. A lovely lingering note of singed bay leaf adds a mouthwatering echo."

"This delivers a briar-framed core of plum sauce and anise, backed by sweet tobacco and light toasty vanilla bean on the finish, and there's good chalky minerality running underneath it all. Very solid."

This wine was named #4 of Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2012.

"Lots of cocoa powder and coffee frame a massive block of dark plum, black currant and fig fruit, while massively endowed tannins stride from start to finish. Cassis, anise and Lapsang souchong tea notes hang in the background for now, but should emerge more with extended cellaring. The very dark, almost brooding finish is dominated by charcoal-coated grip, but the purity still wins out in the end. A very, very large wine."

This wine was named #4 of Wine Spectator's Top 100 Wines of 2012.

"Lots of cocoa powder and coffee frame a massive block of dark plum, black currant and fig fruit, while massively endowed tannins stride from start to finish. Cassis, anise and Lapsang souchong tea notes hang in the background for now, but should emerge more with extended cellaring. The very dark, almost brooding finish is dominated by charcoal-coated grip, but the purity still wins out in the end. A very, very large wine."