Chateau des Tours Vacqueyras 2016

About this wine

The 2016 Château des Tours Vacqueyras is the appellation's quiet benchmark, a Grenache-led red from the Vacqueyras AOC, made by Emmanuel Reynaud with the same patient hands that craft Château Rayas. Vacqueyras gives Reynaud's reds a touch more structural depth than the Côtes du Rhône bottling, while keeping the unmistakable house style: low yields, native yeasts, long élevage in old wooden foudres, no fining or filtration. The 2016 vintage is one of the great recent years in the southern Rhône, producing wines of exceptional balance, freshness and aging potential. Expect dark cherry, garrigue, crushed stone, sweet spice and a long, suede-textured finish. Built for the long haul, Tours Vacqueyras routinely improves for fifteen-plus years.

About Château des Tours and Emmanuel Reynaud

Château des Tours is the home estate of Emmanuel Reynaud, the reclusive genius who also inherited the legendary Château Rayas from his uncle Jacques Reynaud. Situated in the foothills of the Dentelles de Montmirail in the southern Rhône, Château des Tours produces Grenache-based red, white, and rosé wines of breathtaking purity and individuality, wines that carry the same quiet brilliance as Rayas at a fraction of the price. Emmanuel farms low-yielding old vines with minimal intervention and an almost mystical patience, allowing nature to dictate the timing of harvest and the character of each vintage. These are arguably the finest-value wines in the entire Rhône Valley, and among the most coveted bottles in all of France.