Château des Tours

How four generations of structural decisions built Vacqueyras' most singular estate — and what its future now depends on.

Introduction

Château des Tours is the largest, the most self-contained, and in many respects the most structurally revealing of the three estates that constituted the Reynaud winemaking galaxy in the southern Rhône. While Château Rayas in Châteauneuf-du-Pape has always commanded the myth and the auction records, and Château de Fonsalette has long served as its ethereal sibling, des Tours has occupied a different position altogether: it is the property where the family lived, where polyculture was maintained, and where Emmanuel Reynaud first learned to make wine. It was his laboratory, his home, and his most personal statement.

The estate sits in Sarrians, on the western fringe of the Vacqueyras appellation, in an area between Orange and Carpentras where the Rhône plain begins to flatten and the Dentelles de Montmirail recede into the middle distance. The property is large by southern Rhône standards—roughly 58 hectares in total, of which approximately 40 are planted to vine, with the remainder given over to cereals, olive groves, and fruit trees. The château itself is a modest sixteenth-century structure flanked by two towers, which give the estate its name.

What makes Château des Tours analytically significant is its capacity to demonstrate the Reynaud philosophy at scale and across multiple appellations and regulatory categories simultaneously. The estate bottles wines under three distinct labels—Château des Tours (for Vacqueyras and Côtes du Rhône), Domaine des Tours (for Vin de Pays du Vaucluse, now IGP Vaucluse), and Parisy (for a table wine rosé). This multi-tiered output, from a single contiguous property, vinified by the same hand and governed by the same ethos, allows an unusually clear view of how terroir hierarchy, regulatory constraint, and winemaking identity interact.

The death of Emmanuel Reynaud on 25 November 2025, at the age of 61, following a prolonged illness, marks the end of the era that defined the estate’s modern reputation. The succession by his sons—Benoît, who studied oenology in Switzerland and has been increasingly responsible for operations at des Tours, and Louis-Damien, who leads at Fonsalette—is now the central question facing the property. This document examines Château des Tours on its own terms: its history, holdings, wines, position, and market, with the analytical rigour that serious collectors and professionals require.

History

Founding and the Louis Reynaud Era (1935–1978)

The origins of Château des Tours within the Reynaud family trace to Louis Reynaud, Emmanuel’s grandfather, who acquired the property between 1935 and 1938. Louis had taken over Château Rayas in Châteauneuf-du-Pape from his father Albert in 1920 and was actively expanding the family’s holdings. Des Tours, located northeast of Châteauneuf near Sarrians, was a substantially larger property than Rayas but in a less prestigious appellation zone, and its vineyards were reportedly in a state of some disrepair at acquisition. Louis entrusted the property to his son Bertrand, keeping Rayas and the subsequently acquired Fonsalette (1945) under his own management and, after his death in 1978, under that of his younger son Jacques.

This early division of the Reynaud holdings is structurally important. From the 1930s onward, des Tours and Rayas/Fonsalette operated as related but distinct entities: same family, shared philosophy, but different terroir, different management, and—until 1997—different winemakers. Bertrand Reynaud’s primary task at des Tours during the mid-twentieth century was replanting. Many of the vines that had been neglected were renewed, with careful attention to matching varieties to soil types. However, throughout the Bertrand era, the estate did not vinify independently; its grapes were delivered to the local cooperative.

The Emmanuel Reynaud Transformation (1989–1997)

The critical turning point for Château des Tours came in 1989, when Emmanuel Reynaud, Bertrand’s son, took over management of the property and built the estate’s first independent winery. The transition from cooperative delivery to estate vinification fundamentally changed des Tours from a grape-growing operation into a winemaking estate. Emmanuel was in his mid-twenties at this point, and des Tours became the site where he developed the techniques and convictions—whole-cluster fermentation, native yeasts, minimal intervention, extended élevage in old oak—that would later define his work across all three Reynaud properties.

During this eight-year period from 1989 to 1997, des Tours operated fully independently from Rayas and Fonsalette, which remained under the stewardship of Jacques Reynaud. The wines Emmanuel produced at des Tours during this period are distinct from what followed: they represent a young winemaker establishing a style, working with vines his father had replanted, and learning through direct experimentation.

Unification Under Emmanuel (1997–2025)

Jacques Reynaud died suddenly in 1997—reportedly while shopping for shoes in Courthézon—without direct heirs. His widow asked Emmanuel to assume responsibility for Château Rayas and Château de Fonsalette in addition to des Tours. Emmanuel accepted, consolidating all three Reynaud estates under a single winemaker for the first time.

The transition was not seamless. At Rayas, Emmanuel undertook cellar renovations and confronted the fact that Jacques had replanted more than half the property’s vines during the 1980s, meaning much of the plant material was relatively young. The early Emmanuel-era Rayas vintages (late 1990s to early 2000s) are generally regarded as transitional. At des Tours, however, the continuity was unbroken: Emmanuel had been making the wines there for nearly a decade already. It was, paradoxically, the less celebrated estate that provided stability and consistency through the generational transition.

From the early 2000s onward, quality across all three properties aligned at a consistently high level, and Emmanuel’s singular style—marked by a haunting perfume of strawberry, honey, rose petal, mint, and dried herbs—became legible across the full range. The period from roughly 2005 to 2020 represents the zenith of the unified Reynaud output, with des Tours both benefiting from and contributing to Emmanuel’s increasing mastery.

Succession and the Post-Emmanuel Era (2025–)

Emmanuel Reynaud passed away on 25 November 2025, following a long illness. He was 61. His estate passes to his children, with Benoît Reynaud—who studied oenology in Switzerland and had been working closely with his father at des Tours—taking the operational lead at the property, and Louis-Damien Reynaud assuming primary responsibility for Fonsalette. Reports indicate that Emmanuel’s three sons collectively inherit the tools and institutional knowledge to continue the legacy, though the precise legal and governance arrangements for Rayas itself have not been publicly detailed.

The 2025 vintage, harvested under Emmanuel’s supervision during his final months, carries inevitable elegiac significance. The structural question going forward is whether the next generation can maintain the praxis that made these wines distinctive—a praxis that depended less on technical protocols than on daily presence, intuitive timing, and the accumulated sensory memory of a single individual across three decades.

Ownership

Château des Tours has been continuously held by the Reynaud family since Louis Reynaud’s acquisition in the mid-1930s. Unlike some southern Rhône estates that have changed hands through periods of financial distress or corporate consolidation, the property has never been sold outside the family. This continuity of ownership is one of its defining structural features.

The governance history, however, is more layered than simple dynastic succession. The early division of the Reynaud holdings—with des Tours going to Bertrand’s line while Rayas and Fonsalette remained with Jacques—created what was effectively a two-branch family structure. Des Tours was always “Bertrand’s property,” run separately and with its own identity. It was never vinified by Jacques Reynaud and was not part of the Rayas mystique during the decades when that mystique was being constructed.

When Emmanuel inherited Rayas in 1997, the situation reversed: des Tours became the anchor from which he managed the wider Reynaud enterprise. The reunification of the three estates under one winemaker was administratively complex. According to iDealwine, Emmanuel did not inherit Rayas outright: one-third was bequeathed to him by Jacques upon his death, and the remaining shares were purchased from other family members. This suggests that the consolidation involved not just operational assumption but financial negotiation within the family.

The current ownership structure, following Emmanuel’s death, is not fully public. Multiple sources indicate that his six children stand to inherit across the three properties, with Benoît aligned to des Tours and Louis-Damien to Fonsalette. Whether the estates remain under unified family control—or whether generational fragmentation, differing ambitions, or financial pressures introduce complexity—is the pivotal governance question for collectors assessing long-term value.

It is worth noting Emmanuel’s own disposition toward his properties. He famously resisted media exposure, shunned promotional activity, declined most visits, and maintained an artisanal, anti-commercial orientation throughout his career. He was quoted as telling his friend and importer Greg at Martine’s Wines: “Vivons heureux, vivons cachés”—let us live happily, let us live hidden. Whether this ethos of deliberate obscurity survives the pressures of a market that now values these wines at extraordinary levels remains to be seen.

Vineyard(s)

Scale and Configuration

Château des Tours encompasses approximately 58 hectares in total, of which roughly 40 hectares are under vine. The remainder is devoted to cereals, olive trees, and fruit orchards—a mixed agricultural model that reflects the Reynaud preference for polyculture and biodiversity over viticultural monoculture. The property is located in Sarrians, near the locality of Les Sablons, on the road to Jonquières, at the western edge of the Vacqueyras appellation.

The vines are distributed across parcels that qualify for three distinct regulatory categories: AOC Vacqueyras, AOC Côtes du Rhône, and IGP Vaucluse (formerly Vin de Pays du Vaucluse). This tripartite classification from a single contiguous estate reflects geological heterogeneity—the different soil types and exposures that determine which appellations apply to which parcels.

Soils and Terroir Stratification

The terroir at des Tours is fundamentally different from that of Rayas (sandy, iron-rich, north-facing) or Fonsalette (gravel, sand, and pudding stones). At des Tours, there is significant geological variation across the property. The key distinction, which governs the entire hierarchy of wines, is between two broadly defined soil types.

The poorer, stonier, more gravelly soils—with calcareous gravel, pebbles, and some clay—are reserved for the higher-appellation wines: Vacqueyras and Côtes du Rhône. These soils impose natural yield constraints, promote deeper rooting, and produce berries with greater concentration and structural firmness. The richer, deeper, black sandy soils are planted for the IGP Vaucluse wines. These are more fertile, more water-retentive soils that yield more generous, accessible fruit but with less minerality and less tannic architecture. This is not a quality hierarchy imposed by the winemaker; it is a geological reality that the appellation system codifies.

The broader Vacqueyras context is relevant here. The appellation’s best-regarded vineyards are typically found on the Plateau des Garrigues—calcareous, stony terraces covered in galets roulés at the foothills of the Dentelles de Montmirail. Château des Tours, situated at the western extremity of the appellation on lower-lying ground, does not conform to this stereotypical Vacqueyras profile. Its terroir is more heterogeneous, with less altitude, and its wines—while structured and serious—do not display the angular, mineral-driven character associated with the plateau sites. This is a constraint and, simultaneously, a source of identity.

Plant Material

The estate is planted predominantly to Grenache, which forms the backbone of every red wine in the range. Syrah is the principal complement for the Vacqueyras and Côtes du Rhône, while Cinsault appears in the Côtes du Rhône rouge and the Parisy rosé. The IGP rouge incorporates a notably diverse palette including Grenache, Counoise, Syrah, Cinsault, Merlot, and other varieties—reflecting both the regulatory freedom of the Vin de Pays classification and Emmanuel’s interest in matching grape to soil. For whites, Grenache Blanc is used for the Côtes du Rhône blanc, while Clairette is planted for the IGP blanc. Mourvèdre is absent from the estate entirely; Emmanuel believed the soils at all three Reynaud properties were too dry for the variety.

Vine age varies across the estate. Bertrand Reynaud’s mid-century replanting programme means some parcels carry vines planted in the 1950s and 1960s. Emmanuel continued the process of regeneration, progressively replanting while maintaining a core of genuinely old vine material, particularly in Grenache. All vines are bush-trained (gobelet) on the steeper or stonier slopes, with trellising employed on flatter ground—a pragmatic adaptation to site conditions rather than a uniform training regime.

Viticulture

The farming at des Tours follows the same principles applied across all Reynaud properties: organic in practice, with no insecticides or herbicides, soils worked mechanically (including by horse plough in many parcels), and very low-intervention management. However, Emmanuel famously refused organic certification, maintaining what sources describe as a deep aversion to any form of categorisation. The estate cannot therefore be formally classified as organic, even though its methods are consistent with or exceed organic standards.

Harvesting is done entirely by hand, and—true to the Reynaud tradition—extremely late. Emmanuel was routinely the last producer to pick in his appellations, sometimes weeks after his neighbours, accepting the risk of rain and rot in exchange for the phenolic and aromatic maturity he considered essential. The grapes are picked at maximum ripeness, a calculated risk that defines the style.

Wine(s)

Philosophy and Intent

Emmanuel Reynaud’s winemaking philosophy was rooted in what he described as “respect de la création”—a reverence for nature and natural process that informed every decision from vineyard to bottle. The intent was to produce wines that were true reflections of each vintage and each site, rather than wines that conformed to a predetermined technical profile or market expectation. At des Tours, this philosophy yields wines that are more structured and muscular than those of Rayas or Fonsalette, owing to the terroir, but that share the family signature of aromatic purity, textural refinement, and an almost paradoxical combination of ripeness and freshness.

Winemaking

Grapes are whole-cluster fermented with indigenous yeasts in underground concrete tanks. Des Tours is the only Reynaud property where some proportion of destemming may occur; at Rayas and Fonsalette, whole-bunch fermentation is standard without exception. Maceration is gentle, generally not exceeding two weeks, with a single pump-over per day. Sulphur additions are minimal—a small amount at fermentation and a further addition at bottling.

After pressing, the wines are aged in a combination of old oak barrels (demi-muids and foudres) and enamel-lined tanks. No new oak is used anywhere in the Reynaud system; the youngest barrels at the estates are reportedly at least 30 years old. Parcels are vinified separately before assemblage takes place in enamel-lined tanks prior to bottling. All wines are bottled unfined and unfiltered.

The Wines: Château des Tours Label

• Vacqueyras Rouge

  The flagship of the estate. Typically 80% Grenache and 20% Syrah, sourced from the estate’s stonier, more gravelly parcels within the AOC Vacqueyras zone. This is the wine that most directly expresses the ambitions of the property—and where the distinction from the Rayas and Fonsalette style is most legible. The nose is typically dominated by red and black fruit, with notes of truffle, mixed herbs, and the characteristic Reynaud strawberry-rose perfume. On the palate, the wine shows velvety substance, power, and volume, with a firm but not austere tannic frame and a long finish. In great vintages, the Vacqueyras requires significant bottle age—ten to fifteen years is not unreasonable—and can reward patience with considerable complexity.

• Côtes du Rhône Rouge

  Blended from 65% Grenache, 20% Syrah, and 15% Cinsault, this wine comes from parcels qualifying for the broader Côtes du Rhône appellation. It is lighter than the Vacqueyras but maintains intensity and an aromatic profile marked by red fruits and a hint of liquorice. The inclusion of Cinsault contributes lift and a floral dimension. For many collectors, the Côtes du Rhône from des Tours represents one of the most compelling value propositions in the southern Rhône—a serious wine at a fraction of the Vacqueyras price, let alone Rayas.

• Côtes du Rhône Blanc

  Made entirely from Grenache Blanc, this is a wine of considerable finesse. Only about three of the estate’s 40 vine hectares are devoted to white grapes. The white shows aromas of white flowers, white-fleshed fruits, and mineral undertones, with good tension and a lingering finish. Production is very small.

The Wines: Domaine des Tours Label

• IGP Vaucluse Rouge

  This is the most eclectic wine in the range, blending Grenache with Counoise, Syrah, Cinsault, Merlot, and various other grape varieties. Sourced from the estate’s richer, deeper sandy soils, it is the most immediately accessible wine—full-bodied, generous, fruit-driven—yet carries the Reynaud hallmarks of purity and balance. The inclusion of Merlot, unusual in this region, reflects the regulatory freedom of the IGP classification and Emmanuel’s pragmatic approach to variety selection.

• IGP Vaucluse Blanc (Clairette)

  Made entirely from Clairette, this white shows a fine golden hue with complex aromas of honey, candied lemon, beeswax, and mineral notes. The palate is creamy and generous, with white-fruit flavours balanced by bright citrus and a long, subtly bitter finish. A singular wine with few direct comparables.

The Wines: Parisy Label

• Parisy Rosé

  A Vin de Table (now Vin de France) rosé made from a blend of Grenache and Cinsault. Its colour is deep, reminiscent of a Bordeaux clairet, with aromas of rose. Made in the same minimalist style as the reds, it has become a niche collector’s item—particularly since the Sotheby’s offering described it as “a true delicacy, a unique rosé style.”

Internal Hierarchy and Coherence

The range at des Tours is unusually coherent for a single estate producing across three regulatory tiers. The Reynaud signature—aromatic purity, restraint in extraction, reliance on fruit quality rather than winemaking artifice—is legible from the Parisy rosé through to the Vacqueyras. The hierarchy is real but gentle: the IGP wines are more open and forward; the Côtes du Rhône adds structural definition; the Vacqueyras brings concentration, complexity, and ageing potential. What does not change across the range is the textural quality—a silk-and-substance character that distinguishes these wines from the broader Vacqueyras and Côtes du Rhône landscape.

A “Réserve” designation has appeared on certain bottlings of the Vacqueyras and Côtes du Rhône, though information on its precise selection criteria is limited, consistent with the estate’s general opacity. These Réserve bottlings command a premium on the secondary market.

Evolution

The most significant single change in the estate’s history was the construction of the winery in 1989, which transformed des Tours from a grape-supplying operation to an estate-bottling producer. Before that date, there was no des Tours wine as such—merely des Tours grapes, processed by the local cooperative and sold anonymously. Everything that defines the estate’s identity in bottle dates from this structural break.

Within the estate-bottling era, the evolution has been one of refinement rather than revolution. Emmanuel’s winemaking practices changed very little over his three decades of work. The fermentation vessels have always been underground concrete tanks. The oak has always been old. The bottling has always been unfined and unfiltered. There were no introductions of new technology, no experiments with micro-oxygenation or cold soaking, no transitions to new oak regimes, no adoption of optical sorting or must concentration. The cellar at des Tours remained a rustic farm building with minimal equipment—a deliberate choice that Emmanuel maintained in the face of increasing commercial success.

What evolved was Emmanuel’s mastery of his sites and his increasingly refined understanding of when to harvest, how long to macerate, and how to assemble the final blends. The wines from the mid-2000s onward are generally more precise, more aromatically detailed, and more texturally nuanced than those from the early 1990s. This evolution was achieved not through changing methods but through the accumulation of experience within an unchanging framework—a distinction that matters for understanding how difficult it may be to replicate.

In the vineyard, the ongoing programme of vine regeneration—matching varieties to soils, replanting as needed while preserving old vine material—has been continuous. Emmanuel also continued his father’s work of refining the trellising decisions (trellised on flat ground, gobelet on slopes) and progressively tightening the organic discipline of the farming, though again without seeking formal certification.

One notable development in the later years was the increasing involvement of Benoît Reynaud at the property. Having studied oenology in Switzerland, Benoît worked closely alongside his father in both vineyard and cellar, effectively apprenticing in the Reynaud method. Whether this apprenticeship was sufficient to transmit the intuitive, non-codified elements of Emmanuel’s approach is the question that the coming vintages will answer.

Position Within Its Peer Group

Within Vacqueyras

Château des Tours occupies an anomalous position within the Vacqueyras appellation. It is, by a considerable margin, the most expensive and sought-after wine from the AOC, trading at multiples of the appellation average. Yet its terroir is not typical of what is usually cited as the finest Vacqueyras land: it sits on the western, lower-altitude fringe of the appellation rather than on the Plateau des Garrigues, and its wines do not display the angular, mineral, galets-driven character of the plateau producers. Its eminence derives not from terroir supremacy within the appellation but from the Reynaud name, the Reynaud method, and the Reynaud association with Rayas.

Vacqueyras achieved its own AOC status in 1990—the same year Emmanuel began establishing des Tours as an independent estate. The appellation requires a minimum of 50% Grenache and 20% Syrah and/or Mourvèdre in red wines. Des Tours’s blend (80% Grenache, 20% Syrah, with no Mourvèdre) sits comfortably within the rules but reflects Reynaud preferences rather than local convention. Serious Vacqueyras producers such as Domaine La Garrigue, Montirius, Château des Roques, and Domaine Le Sang des Cailloux offer wines that are more representative of the appellation’s mainstream terroir expression. Des Tours is a Vacqueyras that happens to be a Reynaud wine, rather than a Reynaud wine that happens to be from Vacqueyras.

Within the Reynaud Constellation

Within the Reynaud portfolio, des Tours is the most accessible and the most voluminous. Rayas produces roughly 1,200–1,500 cases of its flagship Châteauneuf-du-Pape; Fonsalette’s output is similarly constrained. Des Tours, with 40 hectares under vine, produces substantially more wine across its various labels. This relative abundance, combined with the lower appellation prestige of Vacqueyras versus Châteauneuf-du-Pape, positions des Tours as the entry point into the Reynaud world—the gateway for collectors who cannot secure Rayas allocations and the wine that demonstrates the Reynaud philosophy at a lower cost threshold.

Stylistically, des Tours wines are more structured, more muscular, and more immediately “southern” than those of Rayas or Fonsalette. They lack the ethereal, Burgundian delicacy that makes Rayas unique among Châteauneuf-du-Pape wines, and they lack the cool-climate restraint that characterises Fonsalette. What they share with their siblings is the Reynaud aromatic signature—the haunting perfume, the purity of fruit, and the textural refinement that come from whole-bunch fermentation in old concrete, ageing in old oak, and bottling without fining or filtration.

Among Southern Rhône Peers

In the broader southern Rhône context, des Tours occupies a distinctive niche. Its wines are frequently compared to those of Château de Beaucastel, Clos des Papes, and Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and to Domaine Santa Duc and Domaine de la Monardière in Vacqueyras—though the Reynaud approach is fundamentally different from all of these. The des Tours wines’ emphasis on Grenache purity, minimal extraction, and absence of new oak sets them apart from the more structured, Mourvèdre-influenced blends of Beaucastel or the denser, more extracted styles of certain Châteauneuf producers.

The natural wine movement has increasingly claimed the Reynaud wines as exemplars, and des Tours—with its minimal sulphur, native yeasts, unfined and unfiltered bottling—does indeed overlap with natural wine principles. However, Emmanuel himself resisted this categorisation as firmly as he resisted organic certification. The wines are traditional, not ideological; they are made as they are because of family precedent and personal conviction, not because of adherence to a movement.

Market

Release Strategy

Château des Tours follows the broader Reynaud practice of delayed release. The wines are held at the estate significantly longer than is typical for southern Rhône producers, with some bottlings released only after several years of additional cellaring. This creates a distinctive secondary-market dynamic: by the time wines reach distribution, they are already partially aged, which reduces the consumer’s need for extended home cellaring but also limits the window for primary-market acquisition.

Distribution has historically operated through a tight allocation system. Emmanuel maintained a network of loyal importers and negociants, serving established clients before offering any surplus more broadly. There was no mailing list in the conventional sense, no e-commerce, and no direct-to-consumer sales channel. The estate’s commercial posture mirrored its owner’s personality: private, unhurried, and disinclined to court new buyers.

Pricing and Secondary Market

The Vacqueyras from des Tours trades among the highest-priced wines in the Vacqueyras appellation. Recent auction data from iDealwine and Wine-Searcher indicates prices in the range of €90–€140 per bottle at auction for mature vintages, with significant premiums for strong years (2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016). The Côtes du Rhône is more modestly priced but still commands a substantial premium over appellation norms. Réserve bottlings fetch further premiums.

These prices are exceptional for Vacqueyras—a wine that typically trades in the €15–35 range at retail—and reflect the Reynaud premium rather than appellation fundamentals. Collectors should understand that the secondary-market value of des Tours is anchored primarily to the producer’s name and the halo of Rayas, not to the intrinsic prestige of the Vacqueyras AOC. This is a structural consideration: if the succession generation is perceived to maintain quality, prices should hold; if quality perception shifts, the appellation alone cannot support current valuations.

Impact of Emmanuel Reynaud’s Death

Emmanuel’s death in November 2025 is likely to produce a complex market response. In the near term, speculative demand for his final vintages—particularly 2024 and 2025, if bottled under his supervision—is likely to intensify. Across the broader Reynaud portfolio, Rayas has already been one of the most aggressively traded southern Rhône wines at auction. Des Tours, as the most available entry point, may absorb some of this increased demand.

In the medium term, the market will be testing whether Benoît Reynaud can sustain the quality and distinctiveness that underpinned the price premium. Historical precedent in the wine world is mixed: some estates have navigated generational transitions seamlessly (Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leroy), while others have experienced quality dips that took years to correct. The transition from Jacques to Emmanuel at Rayas offers a relevant case study within the same family: quality was perceived to dip before recovering by the early 2000s.

Liquidity

Des Tours wines appear regularly at auction, primarily through European platforms such as iDealwine, and through specialist Rhône merchants. Liquidity is reasonable for the Vacqueyras and Côtes du Rhône reds; the whites, the Domaine des Tours IGP bottlings, and the Parisy rosé are rarer and more difficult to source. Price stability has historically been good, with gradual appreciation rather than the volatile spikes seen in some Burgundy or Bordeaux wines. This may change in the post-Emmanuel period.

Conclusion

Château des Tours is an estate whose identity was formed by a sequence of structural decisions: the acquisition by Louis Reynaud in the 1930s; the division of the family holdings between Bertrand and Jacques; the construction of an independent cellar by Emmanuel in 1989; and the unification of all three Reynaud properties under a single winemaker in 1997. Each of these turning points shaped the estate’s trajectory, and the accumulation of these decisions—combined with Emmanuel’s three decades of patient, undramatic, brilliantly consistent winemaking—produced a property that functions simultaneously as a standalone Vacqueyras estate of the highest order and as the most accessible node in one of France’s most celebrated wine families.

Its structural strengths are considerable. The estate is large enough to produce meaningful volume across a well-defined range. The geological diversity of the property supports a coherent multi-tier offering from Vin de France to Vacqueyras. The polyculture model—grains, olives, fruit trees alongside vines—contributes to soil health and biodiversity in ways that will become increasingly valuable under climate stress. The unbroken family ownership provides institutional continuity. And the wines themselves, across the full range, carry a stylistic coherence and qualitative ambition that is rare at any price level.

Its vulnerabilities are equally clear. The Reynaud premium is fundamentally a producer premium, not an appellation premium; it depends on the continued perception that the wines transcend their regulatory classification. The estate’s reputation was built by a single, irreplaceable individual whose methods were intuitive, whose decisions were non-codified, and whose daily presence in vineyard and cellar was the engine of quality. The succession to Benoît Reynaud is the most consequential variable facing collectors, and the market will require several vintages—at minimum—to assess whether the transition sustains, enhances, or diminishes what Emmanuel created.

For serious collectors, the calculus is this: wines made by Emmanuel Reynaud at Château des Tours represent some of the finest expressions of Grenache-based winemaking in the southern Rhône, at prices that—while elevated for the appellation—remain accessible relative to the broader Reynaud portfolio. The back vintages are drinking or approaching their windows. The late Emmanuel-era wines (2015–2023) are likely to be re-evaluated upward over time. The post-2025 wines will be judged on their own terms. What will not change is the terroir, the plant material, and the legacy of a man who proved that the highest ambitions in winemaking could be pursued quietly, consistently, and with the deep conviction that the vineyard, not the winemaker, is the author of the wine.