Located within the Vacqueyras appellation, in Sarrians to be precise, the Domaine des Tours is managed by an international star who needs no introduction: Emmanuel Reynaud. Here this winemaker offers us a blend of Merlot and Syrah classified under the appellation of Vin de Pays du Vaucluse. Unsurprisingly, this wine has had a very careful, even risky cultivation. In fact, the grapes are only harvested when they are optimally, very optimally ripe. In the cellar, particular care is taken with the vinification in order to let the grapes express the quintessential qualities of their original terroir. A terroir which is made up of limestone, sandstone, marl and rounded pebbles, as well as a Mediterranean climate.
 
One of the big names of the southern Rhône is Château Rayas in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.  Château Rayas is managed by Emmanuel Reynaud who lives and makes the wine at Château des Tours at Sarrians, a village between Châteauneuf-du-Pape and Vacqueyras, entitled to neither moniker, hence the apparently lowly Côtes du Rhône appellation.
 
Situated in an old house flanked on both sides by tall towers (hence “des Tours”), Château des Tours is Emmanuel’s own family estate, which he took over from his father, Bernard, in 1989. Emmanuel is, at heart, a farmer, and here he grows food for his family, in addition to grapes. Like all Reynaud vineyards, these are tended with the same organic methods, manually ploughed, harvested much later than other producers and centred around a reverence for old-vine Grenache.
 Weighty, complex and savory, the wines produced here are among the most well-regarded, sought-after bottles of the appellation.