WTN: Lots of whites and Rayas

Another wine lunch at Cafe Ysabel. This time the theme was white wines but no Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Riesling. The sole red was a Rayas Reserve.

Sandalford Element Verdelho/Chenin Blanc 2002 - from Oz. Mango. Noticeable sweetness but tart. A good aperitif. Nice and summery.

Iroleguey Herri Mina 2004 - From Gros and Petit Manseng. Not much on the nose. Lots of acid. Spicy. Citrus rind. Light to medium bodied and a bit smokey as well. There is a fleeting sweetness in the attack that gets lost quickly in all the acidity. Interesting for the uncommon grapes but otherwise ordinary.

Leon Beyer Tokay Pinot Gris 1997 - From Alsace. I've posted on this before and was very impressed when I tried it about a month back. Dark gold, strong butterscotch charater. Very complex. There is some residula sugar but it adds to the complexity and character of the wine. Tastes aged but in a graceful, distinguished, way. Lovely wine. I didn't think it would stand up to the salt-crusted baked snapper in a kaffir-lime sauce but it paired brilliantly.

Chateau Rayas Reserve 2002 - Chateauneuf du Pape. The only red we had. Very pale like Pinot Noir. Peppery, spicy, dried herbs and charred wood. A very light wine - sort of like a Rhone Beaujolais. Seems dilute. Strawberry and raspberry fruit are in there, too. Real easy to drink and no wonder - the label says 11.14% alcohol! It's got complexity and balance but it's not a profound or deep wine. This is for drinking now. Not what I expected but I thought it was quite good.

Baumard Quartes de Chaume 2002 - This was for dessert. Cream on the nose. Rich, mandarin orange. Good by itself but unfortunately, no match for the mangoes and vanilla ice cream.

Mission Hill Late Harvesr Riesling 2002 - From Canada. We broke the no Riesling rule for Johnny since this was the only white he had. Tasty up front with apricot and orange but finished weak.

Lots of wine dinners next week so stay tuned.

How does the Rayas Reserve differ (or does it?) from the "normal" CdP of Rayas? We had the CdP at a tasting recently and I thought it really interesting! It was so delightfully earthy that I didn't mind it's huge sweetness at all (our's certainly wasn't dilute). Grenache rarely makes wines that I find interesting, but this 2002 was one (I liked the 2001 Rayas also). A shame they are so expensive.

-O-

I don't know how many kinds of wine Rayas makes so I can't answer your question. Interesting you describe what you had as having huge sweetness as the bottle we had certainly didn't have any.

Expensive wine is right but my friend who brought this was able to get a whole lot at a very attractive price as the store he got this from was eager to unload the 02 to make room for the 03.

The Rayas Reserve is the "normal" Rayas red. They also make Pignan, a kind of second wine with some declassified Rayas material and some independant material.

Then Fonsalette Reserve (50% Grenache, 35% Cinsault & 15% Syrah) and Fonsalette Cuvee Syrah.

Finally in the reds they make a La Pialade which I have read is the rejected, leftover parts of the Rayas, Pignan and Fonsalette wines.

Then I think the whites consist of a Rayas Blanc (50% Grenache Blanc & 50% Clairette) and a Fonsalette Blanc (50% Grenache Blanc, 30% Marsanne & 20% Clairette).