After the ‘rigours’ of tasting all of the wonderful current release, one surely deserves something a little older. Real Gran Reserva 1978? Why not? Victor makes a point of never recorking his older wines; they stand on their own, original merits to the fore. And merit there is aplenty: truffles, incense, peaty burnished notes, yet still freshness, red fruits even, poised and far from shrill. Burgundian in essence, although we are discussing Rayas 1978, that most Burgundian of Châteauneuf du Pape, because we had both, rather amazingly in my case, tasted recently two great names from two famous appellations, their legacy secure… increasingly so.