Château Rayas Pignan Châteauneuf-du-Pape 2010 750ml

The 2010 Châteauneuf Du Pape Pignan is a beauty, with a powerful, concentrated, full-bodied style as well as classic notes of darker cherries and assorted berry fruits supported with an almost Côte Rôtie-like floral, gamey, exotic character that develops with time in the glass. Wonderfully textured, deep, and layered on the palate, it’s unquestionably drinking brilliantly today yet will cruise for another decade or more in cold cellars. (Jeb Dunnuck)

The 2010 Pignan Chateauneuf du Pape (100% Grenache from 30 year old vines) is the lightest of the 2010s. The color is a medium translucent ruby and the nose exhibits delicious notes of garrigue, lavender, sweet kirsch, strawberries and loamy soil. I could have drunk this delicious effort directly from the demi-muids in which it was aging.