93 Raspail Ay Reserve

B

BJ

BJ
Just so deep and delicious. Everything you could want in old school Grenache. Pretty much in its secondaries. Terrific structure, took a couple hours to loosen up. In the vein of 86 or 88. Dare I say it, this was a touch young - I have a couple more bottles and will hold onto one for a few years.

Anyone know what the "Reserve" is? Obviously a better cuvee, but details?
 
I have been going to the domaine regularly for a few years now and haven't seen mention of a special bottling. Interesting. Jonathan?
 
originally posted by Ian Fitzsimmons:
I also think the 'reserve' is just what they sell.
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Could well be, though I don't recall a mention on their label and don't have any bottles handy to check.
 
A brief web search shows different labels. The 'reserve' looks like it's printed for a particular importer (World Shippers and Importers?), and in the importer's section appears the phrase 'Shippers Reserve.' So, maybe different wine, perhaps selected barrels, possibly just salesmanship.
 
Some years ago, when they were shipped by the company that Peter Finkelstein at that time worked for, their company labelled the bottles they imported something different--I remembered it as Cuvee Speciale and not Reserve, but I could be wrong. It was pretty much the exact same wine, though. I have never seen anything but the one bottling in Gigondas.
 
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originally posted by BJ:
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I went down and checked my 98s and 95s. Your label is like those, Reserve and not special cuvee. This is how it was imported when that importer claimed that their cuvee was different and made for them. It was different in the specific sense that it was the bunch they imported as opposed to the other bunch. Otherwise, there is no difference. One could, during that period, find bottles from a different importer that did not have that label and that were less expensive. They tasted the same. When Raspail-Ay switched over to another importer, that designation ceased.
 
originally posted by Jonathan Loesberg:
I went down and checked my 98s and 95s. Your label is like those, Reserve and not special cuvee. This is how it was imported when that importer claimed that their cuvee was different and made for them. It was different in the specific sense that it was the bunch they imported as opposed to the other bunch. Otherwise, there is no difference. One could, during that period, find bottles from a different importer that did not have that label and that were less expensive. They tasted the same. When Raspail-Ay switched over to another importer, that designation ceased.
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I have a couple of bottles of the 2005 labeled Rserve. I'll have to dig them out to see who the importer was.
 
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