2005 Côte-Rôtie La Mouline

Philippe Guigal and his team remain at the top of their game. The 2020 Côte-Rôtie trio of La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne is flat-out stunning. Concentrated, complex and precise, yet totally fragrant, energetic and balanced, all three make it all seem so effortless. While the 2021 and 2022 La-La-La-La’s (don’t forget the new La Reynarde) remain in barrel, I got a chance to check in on the 2023s. Showing more initial ripeness than 2021 yet a little less flavor concentration and boldness than the 2022s, the 2023s are developing their own distinctive personality, and I’ll be delighted to watch them grow. I was also curious about how the 2021 Château d'Ampuis would perform, given its awkward showing from barrel last year. Now in bottle, it has come together nicely, showcasing a cooler-vintage-style restraint that’s going to be cherished by collectors when compared to surrounding vintages. Other highlights from this broad tasting include the expressive 2023 Condrieu La Doriane as well as the stellar 2020 Ermitage Ex-Voto. Before leaving, I also caught up with the now 81-year-old Marcel Guigal. Charming and polite as ever, I was glad to see him doing well.

This year's visit to Guigal brought some intriguing news. To start with, the 2022 Côte-Rôtie La Reynarde will be the inaugural vintage of the fourth “La” within the iconic Guigal line-up. Named after the stream running between Côte Blonde and Côte Brune, the grapes are sourced from a 1.6-hectare steep plot within the Fongeant lieu-dit. After new vines were first planted between 2015 and 2019, Philippe Guigal bottled a single barrel separately as of the 2019 vintage. To provide better context and understanding before tasting the inaugural 2022 La Reynarde, he poured the 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintage samples for context. Each year, a greater proportion of fruit from these fairly young vines was ready to be used in the blend. While the fragrant 2019 had me thinking of a La Mouline with a little kick, tasting the more structured and denser 2020 and 2021 stylistically placed the La Reynarde closer to La Turque. Another interesting adaptation of the Guigal wines includes a change in cooperage. “More than 20 years ago, my father Marcel and I were looking for a partner to set up our family cooperage,” Guigal explained. “In 2003, we teamed up with a renowned cooper. One of the advantages of using their methods was that they made our wines more open and accessible – a great advantage in cooler years. Given the changing climate and increasingly higher temperatures, we started to feel that another solution was needed. After trying out many options, even from Austria and Slovenia, we landed on a partnership with a high-end cooperage located in Beaune. Not only do their barrels impart less vanilla flavor to our wines, but they also prevent the wines from unnecessarily opening up. The 2020 vintage saw a mixture of cooperages, while the 2021 will be the first vintage to fully show the in-depth work we achieved with this barrel change.” What has not changed is the heavy use of new oak in Guigal’s winemaking. “We stay true to the Guigal house style,” Guigal firmly points out. Having had dozens of spectacular mature Guigal wines from the past three decades, there isn’t much to hold against that stylistic choice; with the few exceptions of less ripe vintages, Guigal wines can handle the new oak. But there’s a caveat: The reds need time. In the case of the outstanding 2022 Côte-Rôtie La Landonne, time means holding off at least until 2037 to pop the first cork. Whether or not there is a sufficient number of consumers out there willing to wait that long is a different question.

This year's visit to Guigal brought some intriguing news. To start with, the 2022 Côte-Rôtie La Reynarde will be the inaugural vintage of the fourth “La” within the iconic Guigal line-up. Named after the stream running between Côte Blonde and Côte Brune, the grapes are sourced from a 1.6-hectare steep plot within the Fongeant lieu-dit. After new vines were first planted between 2015 and 2019, Philippe Guigal bottled a single barrel separately as of the 2019 vintage. To provide better context and understanding before tasting the inaugural 2022 La Reynarde, he poured the 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintage samples for context. Each year, a greater proportion of fruit from these fairly young vines was ready to be used in the blend. While the fragrant 2019 had me thinking of a La Mouline with a little kick, tasting the more structured and denser 2020 and 2021 stylistically placed the La Reynarde closer to La Turque. Another interesting adaptation of the Guigal wines includes a change in cooperage. “More than 20 years ago, my father Marcel and I were looking for a partner to set up our family cooperage,” Guigal explained. “In 2003, we teamed up with a renowned cooper. One of the advantages of using their methods was that they made our wines more open and accessible – a great advantage in cooler years. Given the changing climate and increasingly higher temperatures, we started to feel that another solution was needed. After trying out many options, even from Austria and Slovenia, we landed on a partnership with a high-end cooperage located in Beaune. Not only do their barrels impart less vanilla flavor to our wines, but they also prevent the wines from unnecessarily opening up. The 2020 vintage saw a mixture of cooperages, while the 2021 will be the first vintage to fully show the in-depth work we achieved with this barrel change.” What has not changed is the heavy use of new oak in Guigal’s winemaking. “We stay true to the Guigal house style,” Guigal firmly points out. Having had dozens of spectacular mature Guigal wines from the past three decades, there isn’t much to hold against that stylistic choice; with the few exceptions of less ripe vintages, Guigal wines can handle the new oak. But there’s a caveat: The reds need time. In the case of the outstanding 2022 Côte-Rôtie La Landonne, time means holding off at least until 2037 to pop the first cork. Whether or not there is a sufficient number of consumers out there willing to wait that long is a different question.

Philippe Guigal and his team remain at the top of their game. The 2020 Côte-Rôtie trio of La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne is flat-out stunning. Concentrated, complex and precise, yet totally fragrant, energetic and balanced, all three make it all seem so effortless. While the 2021 and 2022 La-La-La-La’s (don’t forget the new La Reynarde) remain in barrel, I got a chance to check in on the 2023s. Showing more initial ripeness than 2021 yet a little less flavor concentration and boldness than the 2022s, the 2023s are developing their own distinctive personality, and I’ll be delighted to watch them grow. I was also curious about how the 2021 Château d'Ampuis would perform, given its awkward showing from barrel last year. Now in bottle, it has come together nicely, showcasing a cooler-vintage-style restraint that’s going to be cherished by collectors when compared to surrounding vintages. Other highlights from this broad tasting include the expressive 2023 Condrieu La Doriane as well as the stellar 2020 Ermitage Ex-Voto. Before leaving, I also caught up with the now 81-year-old Marcel Guigal. Charming and polite as ever, I was glad to see him doing well.

This year's visit to Guigal brought some intriguing news. To start with, the 2022 Côte-Rôtie La Reynarde will be the inaugural vintage of the fourth “La” within the iconic Guigal line-up. Named after the stream running between Côte Blonde and Côte Brune, the grapes are sourced from a 1.6-hectare steep plot within the Fongeant lieu-dit. After new vines were first planted between 2015 and 2019, Philippe Guigal bottled a single barrel separately as of the 2019 vintage. To provide better context and understanding before tasting the inaugural 2022 La Reynarde, he poured the 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintage samples for context. Each year, a greater proportion of fruit from these fairly young vines was ready to be used in the blend. While the fragrant 2019 had me thinking of a La Mouline with a little kick, tasting the more structured and denser 2020 and 2021 stylistically placed the La Reynarde closer to La Turque. Another interesting adaptation of the Guigal wines includes a change in cooperage. “More than 20 years ago, my father Marcel and I were looking for a partner to set up our family cooperage,” Guigal explained. “In 2003, we teamed up with a renowned cooper. One of the advantages of using their methods was that they made our wines more open and accessible – a great advantage in cooler years. Given the changing climate and increasingly higher temperatures, we started to feel that another solution was needed. After trying out many options, even from Austria and Slovenia, we landed on a partnership with a high-end cooperage located in Beaune. Not only do their barrels impart less vanilla flavor to our wines, but they also prevent the wines from unnecessarily opening up. The 2020 vintage saw a mixture of cooperages, while the 2021 will be the first vintage to fully show the in-depth work we achieved with this barrel change.” What has not changed is the heavy use of new oak in Guigal’s winemaking. “We stay true to the Guigal house style,” Guigal firmly points out. Having had dozens of spectacular mature Guigal wines from the past three decades, there isn’t much to hold against that stylistic choice; with the few exceptions of less ripe vintages, Guigal wines can handle the new oak. But there’s a caveat: The reds need time. In the case of the outstanding 2022 Côte-Rôtie La Landonne, time means holding off at least until 2037 to pop the first cork. Whether or not there is a sufficient number of consumers out there willing to wait that long is a different question.

This year's visit to Guigal brought some intriguing news. To start with, the 2022 Côte-Rôtie La Reynarde will be the inaugural vintage of the fourth “La” within the iconic Guigal line-up. Named after the stream running between Côte Blonde and Côte Brune, the grapes are sourced from a 1.6-hectare steep plot within the Fongeant lieu-dit. After new vines were first planted between 2015 and 2019, Philippe Guigal bottled a single barrel separately as of the 2019 vintage. To provide better context and understanding before tasting the inaugural 2022 La Reynarde, he poured the 2019, 2020 and 2021 vintage samples for context. Each year, a greater proportion of fruit from these fairly young vines was ready to be used in the blend. While the fragrant 2019 had me thinking of a La Mouline with a little kick, tasting the more structured and denser 2020 and 2021 stylistically placed the La Reynarde closer to La Turque. Another interesting adaptation of the Guigal wines includes a change in cooperage. “More than 20 years ago, my father Marcel and I were looking for a partner to set up our family cooperage,” Guigal explained. “In 2003, we teamed up with a renowned cooper. One of the advantages of using their methods was that they made our wines more open and accessible – a great advantage in cooler years. Given the changing climate and increasingly higher temperatures, we started to feel that another solution was needed. After trying out many options, even from Austria and Slovenia, we landed on a partnership with a high-end cooperage located in Beaune. Not only do their barrels impart less vanilla flavor to our wines, but they also prevent the wines from unnecessarily opening up. The 2020 vintage saw a mixture of cooperages, while the 2021 will be the first vintage to fully show the in-depth work we achieved with this barrel change.” What has not changed is the heavy use of new oak in Guigal’s winemaking. “We stay true to the Guigal house style,” Guigal firmly points out. Having had dozens of spectacular mature Guigal wines from the past three decades, there isn’t much to hold against that stylistic choice; with the few exceptions of less ripe vintages, Guigal wines can handle the new oak. But there’s a caveat: The reds need time. In the case of the outstanding 2022 Côte-Rôtie La Landonne, time means holding off at least until 2037 to pop the first cork. Whether or not there is a sufficient number of consumers out there willing to wait that long is a different question.

Guigal produces a staggering amount of wine, some 5,000,000 bottles per year, with their consistently excellent red, white and pink Côtes-du-Rhônes making up just under half. The Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde usually hovers around a quarter-million bottles per vintage, which makes it far and away the highest-production wine of the appellation. Perhaps even more impressive than those numbers is the constantly high quality of the wines, up and down and across the line-up, regardless of price. The pace is accelerating under the watch of Philippe Guigal (no, his father, Marcel, hasn’t gone anywhere, nor has his mother, the omnipresent Bernadette). The domaine has been on an acquisition tear in the south, buying up Domaine de Nalys and Les Clefs d’Or in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, plus a good number of other vineyards in the appellation. Their most recent purchase was the legendary, 98-hectare Château d’Aqueria in Tavel. It’s hard to keep up. As for recent releases, it should come as no surprise that there is excellence throughout the current offerings, which include multiple vintages. The Guigals are extremely cautious about keeping their numerous importers and private clients as happy as possible. The Hermitage and Saint-Joseph bottlings have been on a steep, upward quality climb over the last decade, and, as for the Côte-Rôties, they have, unsurprisingly, not missed a beat, even with the recent hot vintages.

Guigal produces a staggering amount of wine, some 5,000,000 bottles per year, with their consistently excellent red, white and pink Côtes-du-Rhônes making up just under half. The Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde usually hovers around a quarter-million bottles per vintage, which makes it far and away the highest-production wine of the appellation. Perhaps even more impressive than those numbers is the constantly high quality of the wines, up and down and across the line-up, regardless of price. The pace is accelerating under the watch of Philippe Guigal (no, his father, Marcel, hasn’t gone anywhere, nor has his mother, the omnipresent Bernadette). The domaine has been on an acquisition tear in the south, buying up Domaine de Nalys and Les Clefs d’Or in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, plus a good number of other vineyards in the appellation. Their most recent purchase was the legendary, 98-hectare Château d’Aqueria in Tavel. It’s hard to keep up. As for recent releases, it should come as no surprise that there is excellence throughout the current offerings, which include multiple vintages. The Guigals are extremely cautious about keeping their numerous importers and private clients as happy as possible. The Hermitage and Saint-Joseph bottlings have been on a steep, upward quality climb over the last decade, and, as for the Côte-Rôties, they have, unsurprisingly, not missed a beat, even with the recent hot vintages.

Philippe Guigal calls 2017 “a year of weight but also structure. The wines don’t show the way people imagine hot-year wines do. There is no overripeness or softness. It’s an interesting mix of qualities.” Two thousand sixteen is the current release for the La La bottlings, and Guigal’s take on the vintage is that “it was a nice change from the strictness and power of the ‘15s, which are going to need a lot of patience.” Compared to the earlier vintage, the 2016s “show more classic elegance, which is the style that Côte-Rôtie became famous for in the first place,” he said. They are highly age-worthy, he thinks, “because they have excellent freshness and the tannins are in great balance with the fruit, not standing out even if they’re young.” I have mentioned before that the Côte-Rôtie Château d’Ampuis delivers fabulous value for a high-end wine of the appellation, and that is definitely the case with the fabulous 2016, a wine that should be high up on any Guigal enthusiast’s shopping list. I’d also look out for the Saint-Josephs from 2017, which are among the best examples of that region that I have ever tasted here. Better yet, they can be found relatively easily and the pricing, especially for the Lieu-dit Saint-Joseph, can be extremely fair given the quality.

In the opinion of Philippe Guigal, the 2015 growing season “was so perfect that it was surreal. Nobody had experienced such a year when nothing went wrong.” The wines are clearly for the ages and should be drinking well for some time after those reading (and writing) this have shuffled off this mortal coil. Guigal thinks that those who want their wines to be enjoyable and complex when young “really should be buying another vintage.” Speaking of other vintages, the 2016s are showing plenty of charm already and the 2014 La La wines (La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque)are also on the forward side, based on the three times I tasted them side by side this spring. I suspect that those 2014s are going to be living in the shadow of the 2015s and, probably, the 2016s for some years to come, so some good buys might be out there soon.

In Philippe Guigal's opinion, the strong suit for 2014 is that "it's a vintage where the terroir speaks more loudly and clearly than vintage character." In that sense, he thinks, "it's a vintage that will probably appeal more to traditionalists than 2015, at least for the next few years. As for 2015, Guigal describes it as "a monument" that has few peers in recent times. "It needs to be spoken of in the same terms as 1978, 1985 and 1991, for sure," he said, adding that he thinks the wines are destined to live an extremely long time without ever seriously closing down "because the harmony of fruit and tannins is perfect. It really has everything."

“Two thousand thirteen is a red wine vintage that deserves patience,” Philippe Guigal believes. “The wines are structured and the tannins are firm, which is great for aging but not so much for drinking now or any time soon,” he added. That’s quite unlike the 2012s here, which are wines that already lead with fruit. It might come as a surprise to many to learn just how important white wine production is here. Guigal produces almost half of all the Condrieu made now, which is pretty remarkable, and while their “basic” bottling represents outstanding value by the appellation’s standard, the real hidden gem here is the Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc. The 2015 version, which is made from 65 percent Viognier, along with Roussanne and Marsanne, is an outstanding value in northern Rhône white wine. It drinks a lot like a Condrieu, in fact, with the Viognier component coming through loud and clear. Guigal’s 2014s are shaping up to be forward, fresh and fruit-driven, in the style of the 2012s. Philippe thinks that they will definitely be wines to drink before the 2013s. But he also thinks that because of their energy, they will surprise many people with their ability to age gracefully. “Look at some vintages of the 80s and 90s that people said were light and to drink early, like ’87 and ’97, and how well many of the wines turned out.” Those who favor rich, weighty wines might not be impressed, he said, “but if you like Syrah in an elegant style, then 2014 will be a very pleasant experience.”

“Two thousand thirteen is a red wine vintage that deserves patience,” Philippe Guigal believes. “The wines are structured and the tannins are firm, which is great for aging but not so much for drinking now or any time soon,” he added. That’s quite unlike the 2012s here, which are wines that already lead with fruit. It might come as a surprise to many to learn just how important white wine production is here. Guigal produces almost half of all the Condrieu made now, which is pretty remarkable, and while their “basic” bottling represents outstanding value by the appellation’s standard, the real hidden gem here is the Côtes-du-Rhône Blanc. The 2015 version, which is made from 65 percent Viognier, along with Roussanne and Marsanne, is an outstanding value in northern Rhône white wine. It drinks a lot like a Condrieu, in fact, with the Viognier component coming through loud and clear. Guigal’s 2014s are shaping up to be forward, fresh and fruit-driven, in the style of the 2012s. Philippe thinks that they will definitely be wines to drink before the 2013s. But he also thinks that because of their energy, they will surprise many people with their ability to age gracefully. “Look at some vintages of the 80s and 90s that people said were light and to drink early, like ’87 and ’97, and how well many of the wines turned out.” Those who favor rich, weighty wines might not be impressed, he said, “but if you like Syrah in an elegant style, then 2014 will be a very pleasant experience.”

I continue to be amazed at the consistent quality of the Guigal family’s massive production, led by their Côtes-du-Rhône at an incredible 3,500,000 bottles in an average vintage. Philippe Guigal said he thinks "the brightness, energy and expressive fruit" of the 2013s will make the wines “very pleasant to drink on the young side," but that same freshness will also allow the wines to “age extremely well on their balance." An opposing situation exists for the 2014s, which, he says, have "round, rich, darker fruit" that will make them delicious, in a more powerful and even decadent way, soon after release.

Philippe Guigal was distinctly under the weather when I came to see him the week before Christmas and he insisted that we conduct our tasting "from as far away from each other as possible" lest I get anything even remotely similar to whatever mutation of flu was attacking him. Under the circumstances he was surprisingly animated as he discussed recent vintages and their triumphs and travails. He said that 2013 was a vintage of mixed blessings because on the one hand demand has never been higher but on the other production was down dramatically, "so you can't win." It was an especially tough year for Grenache in the south, he said, which means that, as in 2011, there will be more Syrah than normal in their wildly successful and widely available Côtes-du-Rhône. Guigal calls 2012 "a pretty much perfect year for a winery because the wines are very appealing young but have the material to age, so everybody can be happy." The 2011s, he thinks, will be appreciated by "those who appreciate the differences of terroir because the distinctions from appellation to appellation and vineyard to vineyard are very clear, unlike in riper years." The '11s will likely be best over the short to medium term, in his estimation, "but they have the balance to surprise you" if you choose to let them rest for a bit. On the subject of 2010, Guigal shrugged his shoulders and said, "well, we know what happened there, right? A great, great year for the patient, not so much if you want to drink them young."

Philippe Guigal was distinctly under the weather when I came to see him the week before Christmas and he insisted that we conduct our tasting "from as far away from each other as possible" lest I get anything even remotely similar to whatever mutation of flu was attacking him. Under the circumstances he was surprisingly animated as he discussed recent vintages and their triumphs and travails. He said that 2013 was a vintage of mixed blessings because on the one hand demand has never been higher but on the other production was down dramatically, "so you can't win." It was an especially tough year for Grenache in the south, he said, which means that, as in 2011, there will be more Syrah than normal in their wildly successful and widely available Côtes-du-Rhône. Guigal calls 2012 "a pretty much perfect year for a winery because the wines are very appealing young but have the material to age, so everybody can be happy." The 2011s, he thinks, will be appreciated by "those who appreciate the differences of terroir because the distinctions from appellation to appellation and vineyard to vineyard are very clear, unlike in riper years." The '11s will likely be best over the short to medium term, in his estimation, "but they have the balance to surprise you" if you choose to let them rest for a bit. On the subject of 2010, Guigal shrugged his shoulders and said, "well, we know what happened there, right? A great, great year for the patient, not so much if you want to drink them young."

Since the practice here isn't to release wines on a predictable schedule, a cellar visit offers the chance to taste a wide-ranging set of vintages, from bottle as well as cask:current releases here stretch back to 2007, for example.Philippe Guigal summed up the most recent vintages in the northern Rhone as "a kind of crazy show of extremes:'07 fruity and supple, '08 bright and lean, '09 ripe and exotic, '10 structured and masculine, '11 a more round and fruity version of '08, and '12 a more friendly and open '10."In other words, he said, "we've seen almost every possible style that you can imagine in a really short time, without any of the vintages being truly bad."That's not to say that he doesn't have his preferences (that would be 2010, for the patient) and, from what I gleaned from our conversation, 2009, which he called "a vintage for wine lovers while 2010 is for wine collectors."

Since the practice here isn't to release wines on a predictable schedule, a cellar visit offers the chance to taste a wide-ranging set of vintages, from bottle as well as cask:current releases here stretch back to 2007, for example.Philippe Guigal summed up the most recent vintages in the northern Rhone as "a kind of crazy show of extremes:'07 fruity and supple, '08 bright and lean, '09 ripe and exotic, '10 structured and masculine, '11 a more round and fruity version of '08, and '12 a more friendly and open '10."In other words, he said, "we've seen almost every possible style that you can imagine in a really short time, without any of the vintages being truly bad."That's not to say that he doesn't have his preferences (that would be 2010, for the patient) and, from what I gleaned from our conversation, 2009, which he called "a vintage for wine lovers while 2010 is for wine collectors."

Tasting in the Guigal cellars is always a lesson in the most recent vintages of the Rhone as the family staggers most of their releases to correspond with each wine's relative drinkablity.So it's possible to taste across up to four and sometimes even five vintages here, not even taking into account the very late-bottled La La wines.Philippe Guigal told me that he is moving steadily to bring the Chateau d'Ampuis bottling, which is drawn from seven sites, including La Landonne, "up to as close to the single vineyard bottlings as possible."The aim is to position the wine as distinct from the estate's flagship Brune et Blonde bottling, Guigal told me, adding that now that the wine has become well known it's time for it to have its own identity and reputation.Speaking of the Chateau d'Ampuis, the 2008, which was reviewed last year, is showing beautifully right now, with a suave, silky texture and alluring floral and spice character.It will age, no doubt, but I found it pretty irresistible this fall.

The low yields of 2010 were a painful slap to Guigal and everybody in the Rhone, Philippe Guigal commented. "It was even more painful since it's a superb vintage," he added. Tasting here is a moving target as the Guigals like to release wines as they deem them fit, which can mean that a "regular" Hermitage might be held back longer than the luxury Ex-Voto bottling from the same vintage, or the Chateau d'Ampuis Cote-Rotie may be put on the market before the flagship Brune et Blonde version. "There's no set regimen for how the wines are raised, when they are bottled, or when they are released," said Philippe. "The wine makes the decision and wines change a lot during elevage, so we can't predict what will happen too far in advance."

It was important to watch for ripeness in 2009, said Philippe Guigal, "or you ran the danger of your sugars taking off, especially with viognier." He pointed out that only 2% of the production of the Rhone Valley is white wine but that white represents 25% of Guigal's production, "which is pretty funny when you consider how we are identified with Cote-Rotie." Guigal sells an enormous quantity of wine to Japan, but Philippe told me that "contrary to what that might suggest, our wines-and Rhone whites in general-are not very good matches with lighter seafood or, especially, shellfish. They're too rich and too creamy to go well with delicate fish and mollusks. With lobster, crab or rich fish like halibut, salmon or even turbot in a buttery sauce it's another story." Guigal said that he is "starting to think that 2007 is going to turn out a lot better for syrah than we expected. The wines are putting on weight and developing structure that we didn't anticipate. They actually aren't so gentle so maybe they're going to surprise us with their ability to age."

The Guigals were so unimpressed by the quality of the fruit they were offered from the southern Rhone in 2008 that they decided not to make any red wines from this region, Philippe Guigal told me. "The fruit was simply too fragile," said Guigal, "and we weren't confident that it would stand up to our type of elevage, which we like to extend." This means that there will be no 2008 red Cotes du Rhone for the first time since 1992. Guigal is impressed by the "flexibility" of 2007. "The fruit is up front, there's enough acidity to give the wines the balance for aging, yet the tannins are soft enough that they can be drunk young." Guigal told me that he is liking 2006 more and more "because the wines are very spicy and floral, and have real integrity, balance and precision. They aren't powerful like the '05s, but they'll live a long time on their balance. People forget that elegant wines can often outlive the big guys." The just-bottled 2006 Cote-Rotie Brune et Blonde wasn't in a state for tasting when I visited Guigal at the beginning of November so I will report on this wine next year.

It was important to watch for ripeness in 2009, said Philippe Guigal, "or you ran the danger of your sugars taking off, especially with viognier." He pointed out that only 2% of the production of the Rhone Valley is white wine but that white represents 25% of Guigal's production, "which is pretty funny when you consider how we are identified with Cote-Rotie." Guigal sells an enormous quantity of wine to Japan, but Philippe told me that "contrary to what that might suggest, our wines-and Rhone whites in general-are not very good matches with lighter seafood or, especially, shellfish. They're too rich and too creamy to go well with delicate fish and mollusks. With lobster, crab or rich fish like halibut, salmon or even turbot in a buttery sauce it's another story." Guigal said that he is "starting to think that 2007 is going to turn out a lot better for syrah than we expected. The wines are putting on weight and developing structure that we didn't anticipate. They actually aren't so gentle so maybe they're going to surprise us with their ability to age."

The Guigals were so unimpressed by the quality of the fruit they were offered from the southern Rhone in 2008 that they decided not to make any red wines from this region, Philippe Guigal told me. "The fruit was simply too fragile," said Guigal, "and we weren't confident that it would stand up to our type of elevage, which we like to extend." This means that there will be no 2008 red Cotes du Rhone for the first time since 1992. Guigal is impressed by the "flexibility" of 2007. "The fruit is up front, there's enough acidity to give the wines the balance for aging, yet the tannins are soft enough that they can be drunk young." Guigal told me that he is liking 2006 more and more "because the wines are very spicy and floral, and have real integrity, balance and precision. They aren't powerful like the '05s, but they'll live a long time on their balance. People forget that elegant wines can often outlive the big guys." The just-bottled 2006 Cote-Rotie Brune et Blonde wasn't in a state for tasting when I visited Guigal at the beginning of November so I will report on this wine next year.

The big news at Guigal this year was the recent acquisition of a half hectare of vines in Condrieu's prized Chery vineyard. In the 2008 vintage this fruit will go into Guigal's La Doriane bottling, and Philippe Guigal believes it will add an extra dimension of finesse to the wine. On the subject of reds, Guigal describes 2007 as "a rich, generous vintage that will be approachable young but has the depth and balance to age. " He added that the 2005s will need at least as much time as the 1978s. "I can't imagine them giving much pleasure before they are at least a decade old. " The 2006s, he reiterated, "will be long-lived, which might surprise people who are seduced by all their fruit right now. " The grapes for this estate's red wines have only been completely destemmed once, in 2002, which no doubt contributes to their complex, intensely spicy bouquets. Incidentally, 2004 was the first vintage in which the Guigals used only their own house-made barriques. (Ex-Cellars Wine Agencies, Solvang, CA) Also recommended: 2007 Cotes du Rhone Blanc (87), 2007 Cotes du Rhone Rose (86), 2007 Tavel Rose (87).

The latest technological marvel added to the Guigal fortress is a device that features rising and swinging hydraulic arms with suction cups that pick up a set number of bottles and quickly but gently set them into layers inside cases, sending them down a conveyor belt and ultimately neatly taping the boxes shut and kicking them off the line. The entire process takes about ten seconds per box, which must be a good thing for an operation that sells close to six million bottles a year, all of it raised and bottled under this enormous roof. Then there's the now-completed cellar across the Route Nationale, bigger than a football field, which houses the stainless steel tanks for Guigal's Cotes du Rhones. You find yourself wondering if you've been transported to the Central Valley-of Chile or California-until you realize that this is a family company, run by a mere three members, at least two of whom are rarely out of your sight during a four-hour visit. As for the wines, Philippe Guigal is very pleased with his 2006 whites. He describes them as "elegant, precise and very well balanced, with plenty of immediate appeal but the capacity to age." The 2005s, he adds, will benefit from patience. "The 2006 reds in the north will surprise people with their ability to age," he told me. "Sure, 2005 is the vintage you'll want to put away, and the 2006s will mature more quickly, but 2006 has a lot to offer both early and later."

The big news at Guigal this year was the recent acquisition of a half hectare of vines in Condrieu's prized Chery vineyard. In the 2008 vintage this fruit will go into Guigal's La Doriane bottling, and Philippe Guigal believes it will add an extra dimension of finesse to the wine. On the subject of reds, Guigal describes 2007 as "a rich, generous vintage that will be approachable young but has the depth and balance to age. " He added that the 2005s will need at least as much time as the 1978s. "I can't imagine them giving much pleasure before they are at least a decade old. " The 2006s, he reiterated, "will be long-lived, which might surprise people who are seduced by all their fruit right now. " The grapes for this estate's red wines have only been completely destemmed once, in 2002, which no doubt contributes to their complex, intensely spicy bouquets. Incidentally, 2004 was the first vintage in which the Guigals used only their own house-made barriques. (Ex-Cellars Wine Agencies, Solvang, CA) Also recommended: 2007 Cotes du Rhone Blanc (87), 2007 Cotes du Rhone Rose (86), 2007 Tavel Rose (87).

The latest technological marvel added to the Guigal fortress is a device that features rising and swinging hydraulic arms with suction cups that pick up a set number of bottles and quickly but gently set them into layers inside cases, sending them down a conveyor belt and ultimately neatly taping the boxes shut and kicking them off the line. The entire process takes about ten seconds per box, which must be a good thing for an operation that sells close to six million bottles a year, all of it raised and bottled under this enormous roof. Then there's the now-completed cellar across the Route Nationale, bigger than a football field, which houses the stainless steel tanks for Guigal's Cotes du Rhones. You find yourself wondering if you've been transported to the Central Valley-of Chile or California-until you realize that this is a family company, run by a mere three members, at least two of whom are rarely out of your sight during a four-hour visit. As for the wines, Philippe Guigal is very pleased with his 2006 whites. He describes them as "elegant, precise and very well balanced, with plenty of immediate appeal but the capacity to age." The 2005s, he adds, will benefit from patience. "The 2006 reds in the north will surprise people with their ability to age," he told me. "Sure, 2005 is the vintage you'll want to put away, and the 2006s will mature more quickly, but 2006 has a lot to offer both early and later."

Finishing touches were being made to Guigal's massive new cuverie on the route nationale, across the street from the original facility, when I visited in November. With a stainless-steel tank capacity of 25,700 hectoliters and a cellar that's literally the size of an American football field, the Guigals have realized their dream of having all of their wines under their own watch in Ampuis. I might have to bring a bicycle next year to get around the cellar. White wines are a very big deal here:Guigal makes almost 45% of all Condrieu, and Philippe Guigal is very high on the 2005 vintage. "The wines are more crisp, more mineral and more floral than the 2004s," he told me, "and 2004 is an outstanding vintage. "I also tasted samples of the 2005 single-site Cote-Roties and they are, predictably, to die for; Guigal did not present the '04s as he felt they were in a particularly awkward stage of their evolution in barrel.

The big news at Guigal this year was the recent acquisition of a half hectare of vines in Condrieu's prized Chery vineyard. In the 2008 vintage this fruit will go into Guigal's La Doriane bottling, and Philippe Guigal believes it will add an extra dimension of finesse to the wine. On the subject of reds, Guigal describes 2007 as "a rich, generous vintage that will be approachable young but has the depth and balance to age. " He added that the 2005s will need at least as much time as the 1978s. "I can't imagine them giving much pleasure before they are at least a decade old. " The 2006s, he reiterated, "will be long-lived, which might surprise people who are seduced by all their fruit right now. " The grapes for this estate's red wines have only been completely destemmed once, in 2002, which no doubt contributes to their complex, intensely spicy bouquets. Incidentally, 2004 was the first vintage in which the Guigals used only their own house-made barriques. (Ex-Cellars Wine Agencies, Solvang, CA) Also recommended: 2007 Cotes du Rhone Blanc (87), 2007 Cotes du Rhone Rose (86), 2007 Tavel Rose (87).

The latest technological marvel added to the Guigal fortress is a device that features rising and swinging hydraulic arms with suction cups that pick up a set number of bottles and quickly but gently set them into layers inside cases, sending them down a conveyor belt and ultimately neatly taping the boxes shut and kicking them off the line. The entire process takes about ten seconds per box, which must be a good thing for an operation that sells close to six million bottles a year, all of it raised and bottled under this enormous roof. Then there's the now-completed cellar across the Route Nationale, bigger than a football field, which houses the stainless steel tanks for Guigal's Cotes du Rhones. You find yourself wondering if you've been transported to the Central Valley-of Chile or California-until you realize that this is a family company, run by a mere three members, at least two of whom are rarely out of your sight during a four-hour visit. As for the wines, Philippe Guigal is very pleased with his 2006 whites. He describes them as "elegant, precise and very well balanced, with plenty of immediate appeal but the capacity to age." The 2005s, he adds, will benefit from patience. "The 2006 reds in the north will surprise people with their ability to age," he told me. "Sure, 2005 is the vintage you'll want to put away, and the 2006s will mature more quickly, but 2006 has a lot to offer both early and later."

As impressively-and often dramatically-as the Guigal red wines showed this year, some of the most intriguing moments occurred while I tasted through the expanding range of white wines on offer here.Vintage 2004 provided a marvelous opportunity to make intense, sharply focused whites that accurately reflect their sites, and Philippe Guigal is very pleased with the family's results.The red wines from 2004, as elsewhere in the Rhone Valley, show brighter red fruit qualities and greater elegance than the 2003s, but the character of 2003 hardly concerned the Guigals."We like to go with the vintage, rather than try to correct it or change its essential character," Philippe Guigal told me."Most people were scared of the ripeness of 2003 but we decided to go for maximum expression of this crazy year," he added.Macerations here are lengthy as a rule, but in 2003 they were extended to a full month, "for as much extraction as possible."The result, in the opinion of Philippe, is a group of wines "that are among the best we have ever made.I am incredibly happy."

Finishing touches were being made to Guigal's massive new cuverie on the route nationale, across the street from the original facility, when I visited in November. With a stainless-steel tank capacity of 25,700 hectoliters and a cellar that's literally the size of an American football field, the Guigals have realized their dream of having all of their wines under their own watch in Ampuis. I might have to bring a bicycle next year to get around the cellar. White wines are a very big deal here:Guigal makes almost 45% of all Condrieu, and Philippe Guigal is very high on the 2005 vintage. "The wines are more crisp, more mineral and more floral than the 2004s," he told me, "and 2004 is an outstanding vintage. "I also tasted samples of the 2005 single-site Cote-Roties and they are, predictably, to die for; Guigal did not present the '04s as he felt they were in a particularly awkward stage of their evolution in barrel.

As impressively-and often dramatically-as the Guigal red wines showed this year, some of the most intriguing moments occurred while I tasted through the expanding range of white wines on offer here.Vintage 2004 provided a marvelous opportunity to make intense, sharply focused whites that accurately reflect their sites, and Philippe Guigal is very pleased with the family's results.The red wines from 2004, as elsewhere in the Rhone Valley, show brighter red fruit qualities and greater elegance than the 2003s, but the character of 2003 hardly concerned the Guigals."We like to go with the vintage, rather than try to correct it or change its essential character," Philippe Guigal told me."Most people were scared of the ripeness of 2003 but we decided to go for maximum expression of this crazy year," he added.Macerations here are lengthy as a rule, but in 2003 they were extended to a full month, "for as much extraction as possible."The result, in the opinion of Philippe, is a group of wines "that are among the best we have ever made.I am incredibly happy."

Marcel Guigal expressed the opinion that Cote-Rotie was the most successful appellation in France in 2003. While my own tastings suggest that it's more variable in quality than Guigal believes, and too freakish to be considered a truly great vintage, Guigal's own single-vineyard Cote-Roties are stunningly rich, and his new Hermitage Ex-Voto is a monument in the making. Guigal, not surprisingly, took an approach to vinification different from that of most of his colleagues in the Northern Rhone:he did a longer fermentation than usual (between four and five weeks) and managed to extract very suave tannins. For those of you keeping score at home, 25% of the production of this large house is white wine, whereas in the RhoneValley as a whole, according to Marcel's son Philippe Guigal, white wine accounts for 3. 2% of the total. And Guigal vinified 40% of all Condrieu made in vintage 2004, according to Philippe. Clearly, the Guigals succeed in the marketplace with their white wines because they like them round and full-bodied; they are not fans of acidity in these wines.

Finishing touches were being made to Guigal's massive new cuverie on the route nationale, across the street from the original facility, when I visited in November. With a stainless-steel tank capacity of 25,700 hectoliters and a cellar that's literally the size of an American football field, the Guigals have realized their dream of having all of their wines under their own watch in Ampuis. I might have to bring a bicycle next year to get around the cellar. White wines are a very big deal here:Guigal makes almost 45% of all Condrieu, and Philippe Guigal is very high on the 2005 vintage. "The wines are more crisp, more mineral and more floral than the 2004s," he told me, "and 2004 is an outstanding vintage. "I also tasted samples of the 2005 single-site Cote-Roties and they are, predictably, to die for; Guigal did not present the '04s as he felt they were in a particularly awkward stage of their evolution in barrel.

Marcel Guigal expressed the opinion that Cote-Rotie was the most successful appellation in France in 2003. While my own tastings suggest that it's more variable in quality than Guigal believes, and too freakish to be considered a truly great vintage, Guigal's own single-vineyard Cote-Roties are stunningly rich, and his new Hermitage Ex-Voto is a monument in the making. Guigal, not surprisingly, took an approach to vinification different from that of most of his colleagues in the Northern Rhone:he did a longer fermentation than usual (between four and five weeks) and managed to extract very suave tannins. For those of you keeping score at home, 25% of the production of this large house is white wine, whereas in the RhoneValley as a whole, according to Marcel's son Philippe Guigal, white wine accounts for 3. 2% of the total. And Guigal vinified 40% of all Condrieu made in vintage 2004, according to Philippe. Clearly, the Guigals succeed in the marketplace with their white wines because they like them round and full-bodied; they are not fans of acidity in these wines.

Kitchen W8 is well worth seeking out. I enjoyed the local, relaxed ambiance, perhaps things moving at a slightly slower pace here than elsewhere in the city. Prices are more reasonable than many, especially for lunch and early evening, and the quality of cooking is very assured and unpretentious.

As impressively-and often dramatically-as the Guigal red wines showed this year, some of the most intriguing moments occurred while I tasted through the expanding range of white wines on offer here.Vintage 2004 provided a marvelous opportunity to make intense, sharply focused whites that accurately reflect their sites, and Philippe Guigal is very pleased with the family's results.The red wines from 2004, as elsewhere in the Rhone Valley, show brighter red fruit qualities and greater elegance than the 2003s, but the character of 2003 hardly concerned the Guigals."We like to go with the vintage, rather than try to correct it or change its essential character," Philippe Guigal told me."Most people were scared of the ripeness of 2003 but we decided to go for maximum expression of this crazy year," he added.Macerations here are lengthy as a rule, but in 2003 they were extended to a full month, "for as much extraction as possible."The result, in the opinion of Philippe, is a group of wines "that are among the best we have ever made.I am incredibly happy."

Marcel Guigal expressed the opinion that Cote-Rotie was the most successful appellation in France in 2003. While my own tastings suggest that it's more variable in quality than Guigal believes, and too freakish to be considered a truly great vintage, Guigal's own single-vineyard Cote-Roties are stunningly rich, and his new Hermitage Ex-Voto is a monument in the making. Guigal, not surprisingly, took an approach to vinification different from that of most of his colleagues in the Northern Rhone:he did a longer fermentation than usual (between four and five weeks) and managed to extract very suave tannins. For those of you keeping score at home, 25% of the production of this large house is white wine, whereas in the RhoneValley as a whole, according to Marcel's son Philippe Guigal, white wine accounts for 3. 2% of the total. And Guigal vinified 40% of all Condrieu made in vintage 2004, according to Philippe. Clearly, the Guigals succeed in the marketplace with their white wines because they like them round and full-bodied; they are not fans of acidity in these wines.

Philippe Guigal provided stark evidence of thex000D difficulty of the 2002 harvest for Rhone Valley growers. Because of the rain and thex000D possibility of quickly spreading rot we moved up our harvest dates three orx000D four times, then picked everything in an amazingly short window," he toldx000D me. All of the Guigals' Cote-Rotiex000D fruit was in by September 20, even the grapes destined for the family's fabledx000D La-La wines. Fruit sugars reached 11.5%x000D for syrah, according to Philippe, but 13.8% for the Condrieu Doriane. There was much less rot in thex000D viognier vines, even in the same parcels as syrah," he added. Guigal fans will not want to miss thex000D house's sensational 1999 Cote-Rotie special cuvees, which will be shipped inx000D late winter.

Marcel Guigal expressed the opinion that Cote-Rotie was the most successful appellation in France in 2003. While my own tastings suggest that it's more variable in quality than Guigal believes, and too freakish to be considered a truly great vintage, Guigal's own single-vineyard Cote-Roties are stunningly rich, and his new Hermitage Ex-Voto is a monument in the making. Guigal, not surprisingly, took an approach to vinification different from that of most of his colleagues in the Northern Rhone:he did a longer fermentation than usual (between four and five weeks) and managed to extract very suave tannins. For those of you keeping score at home, 25% of the production of this large house is white wine, whereas in the RhoneValley as a whole, according to Marcel's son Philippe Guigal, white wine accounts for 3. 2% of the total. And Guigal vinified 40% of all Condrieu made in vintage 2004, according to Philippe. Clearly, the Guigals succeed in the marketplace with their white wines because they like them round and full-bodied; they are not fans of acidity in these wines.

Philippe Guigal provided stark evidence of thex000D difficulty of the 2002 harvest for Rhone Valley growers. Because of the rain and thex000D possibility of quickly spreading rot we moved up our harvest dates three orx000D four times, then picked everything in an amazingly short window," he toldx000D me. All of the Guigals' Cote-Rotiex000D fruit was in by September 20, even the grapes destined for the family's fabledx000D La-La wines. Fruit sugars reached 11.5%x000D for syrah, according to Philippe, but 13.8% for the Condrieu Doriane. There was much less rot in thex000D viognier vines, even in the same parcels as syrah," he added. Guigal fans will not want to miss thex000D house's sensational 1999 Cote-Rotie special cuvees, which will be shipped inx000D late winter.

Marcel Guigal, the locomotive of the Northern Rhone Valley, has added another couple of cars to his train with the purchase of the Jean-Louis Grippat domain and the house of de Vallouit, both deals consummated in 2001. Following the permission granted by authorities to use the lieu-dit Saint-Joseph to distinguish the wine made from Grippat's prime holding at the original heart of the appellation, Guigal will offer no fewer than three red Saint-Joseph bottlings beginning with vintage '99. Guigal also picked up Hermitage vines through both purchases; previously he owned no vines in this appellation. Also beginning with the '99 vintage, there will be a negociant bottling of Crozes-Hermitage, made entirely from hillside fruit. My meeting this year with Marcel's son Philippe climaxed, as always, with a barrel tasting of three vintages of Guigal's fabled Cote-Roties La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne, always a highlight of my annual Rhone Valley tour.

Philippe Guigal provided stark evidence of thex000D difficulty of the 2002 harvest for Rhone Valley growers. Because of the rain and thex000D possibility of quickly spreading rot we moved up our harvest dates three orx000D four times, then picked everything in an amazingly short window," he toldx000D me. All of the Guigals' Cote-Rotiex000D fruit was in by September 20, even the grapes destined for the family's fabledx000D La-La wines. Fruit sugars reached 11.5%x000D for syrah, according to Philippe, but 13.8% for the Condrieu Doriane. There was much less rot in thex000D viognier vines, even in the same parcels as syrah," he added. Guigal fans will not want to miss thex000D house's sensational 1999 Cote-Rotie special cuvees, which will be shipped inx000D late winter.

Marcel Guigal, the locomotive of the Northern Rhone Valley, has added another couple of cars to his train with the purchase of the Jean-Louis Grippat domain and the house of de Vallouit, both deals consummated in 2001. Following the permission granted by authorities to use the lieu-dit Saint-Joseph to distinguish the wine made from Grippat's prime holding at the original heart of the appellation, Guigal will offer no fewer than three red Saint-Joseph bottlings beginning with vintage '99. Guigal also picked up Hermitage vines through both purchases; previously he owned no vines in this appellation. Also beginning with the '99 vintage, there will be a negociant bottling of Crozes-Hermitage, made entirely from hillside fruit. My meeting this year with Marcel's son Philippe climaxed, as always, with a barrel tasting of three vintages of Guigal's fabled Cote-Roties La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne, always a highlight of my annual Rhone Valley tour.

According to Philippe Guigal, the fruit in Cote-Rotie ripened ahead of Hermitage in '99, an infrequent occurrence that may have had something to do with the timing and extent of late summer rains. As a result, the harvest generally started later in Hermitage, and some growers were affected by a soaking rainstorm on September 25. Guigal Cote-Rotie crus from this vintage, however, were picked at glorious levels of ripeness. Though still more than two years short of bottling, they are some of the most exciting unfinished red wines I've ever tasted. Another standout of my annual tasting chez Guigal was the 1998 Hermitage; I sampled the major components of this unfinished wine and came away convinced that it would be Guigal's strongest Hermitage since the great '90.

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

Philippe Guigal provided stark evidence of thex000D difficulty of the 2002 harvest for Rhone Valley growers. Because of the rain and thex000D possibility of quickly spreading rot we moved up our harvest dates three orx000D four times, then picked everything in an amazingly short window," he toldx000D me. All of the Guigals' Cote-Rotiex000D fruit was in by September 20, even the grapes destined for the family's fabledx000D La-La wines. Fruit sugars reached 11.5%x000D for syrah, according to Philippe, but 13.8% for the Condrieu Doriane. There was much less rot in thex000D viognier vines, even in the same parcels as syrah," he added. Guigal fans will not want to miss thex000D house's sensational 1999 Cote-Rotie special cuvees, which will be shipped inx000D late winter.

Marcel Guigal, the locomotive of the Northern Rhone Valley, has added another couple of cars to his train with the purchase of the Jean-Louis Grippat domain and the house of de Vallouit, both deals consummated in 2001. Following the permission granted by authorities to use the lieu-dit Saint-Joseph to distinguish the wine made from Grippat's prime holding at the original heart of the appellation, Guigal will offer no fewer than three red Saint-Joseph bottlings beginning with vintage '99. Guigal also picked up Hermitage vines through both purchases; previously he owned no vines in this appellation. Also beginning with the '99 vintage, there will be a negociant bottling of Crozes-Hermitage, made entirely from hillside fruit. My meeting this year with Marcel's son Philippe climaxed, as always, with a barrel tasting of three vintages of Guigal's fabled Cote-Roties La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne, always a highlight of my annual Rhone Valley tour.

According to Philippe Guigal, the fruit in Cote-Rotie ripened ahead of Hermitage in '99, an infrequent occurrence that may have had something to do with the timing and extent of late summer rains. As a result, the harvest generally started later in Hermitage, and some growers were affected by a soaking rainstorm on September 25. Guigal Cote-Rotie crus from this vintage, however, were picked at glorious levels of ripeness. Though still more than two years short of bottling, they are some of the most exciting unfinished red wines I've ever tasted. Another standout of my annual tasting chez Guigal was the 1998 Hermitage; I sampled the major components of this unfinished wine and came away convinced that it would be Guigal's strongest Hermitage since the great '90.

The Guigals recently completed yet another major expansion of their winemaking facility and with the purchase of some state-of-the-art bottling equipment can now produce magnums for the first time. Still, said Philippe Guigal, they will be extremely hesitant to make magnums of La Mouline, La Landonne or La Turque, as demand for these bottles already far exceeds their supply. The Guigals, who tend to release wines later than most of their Rhone Valley colleagues and usually bring out new vintages in October, had just released several '96s from major appellations (Hermitage, Cote-Rotie, Chateauneuf du Pape and Gigondas). While these wines were distinctly higher in acidity and more tightly wrapped than most of the '97s and '98s I was tasting on my recent trip, they were consistently stylish and aromatically intriguing. The '96 cru bottlings, still in barrel in November, boast richness that transcends this rather "northern" vintage, thanks to late harvesting that lasted until the middle of October.

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

According to Philippe Guigal, the fruit in Cote-Rotie ripened ahead of Hermitage in '99, an infrequent occurrence that may have had something to do with the timing and extent of late summer rains. As a result, the harvest generally started later in Hermitage, and some growers were affected by a soaking rainstorm on September 25. Guigal Cote-Rotie crus from this vintage, however, were picked at glorious levels of ripeness. Though still more than two years short of bottling, they are some of the most exciting unfinished red wines I've ever tasted. Another standout of my annual tasting chez Guigal was the 1998 Hermitage; I sampled the major components of this unfinished wine and came away convinced that it would be Guigal's strongest Hermitage since the great '90.

The Guigals recently completed yet another major expansion of their winemaking facility and with the purchase of some state-of-the-art bottling equipment can now produce magnums for the first time. Still, said Philippe Guigal, they will be extremely hesitant to make magnums of La Mouline, La Landonne or La Turque, as demand for these bottles already far exceeds their supply. The Guigals, who tend to release wines later than most of their Rhone Valley colleagues and usually bring out new vintages in October, had just released several '96s from major appellations (Hermitage, Cote-Rotie, Chateauneuf du Pape and Gigondas). While these wines were distinctly higher in acidity and more tightly wrapped than most of the '97s and '98s I was tasting on my recent trip, they were consistently stylish and aromatically intriguing. The '96 cru bottlings, still in barrel in November, boast richness that transcends this rather "northern" vintage, thanks to late harvesting that lasted until the middle of October.

Following the construction of a huge new winemaking facility in 1993, Marcel Guigal quickly found that he was once again running out of space-not just for barrel storage but for bottling and labeling wines fast enough to keep up with worldwide demand for his wines. So Guigal is building yet another facility adjacent to the new one. On my recent visit, I tasted at length with Guigal son Philippe, who recently joined his father full-time following the completion of his wine studies and several stages in Bordeaux, California and Australia. Guigal's habit of late harvesting has clearly worked to his favor in '96 and '97; his cru bottlings of Cote-Rotie will be at the top of their respective vintages (even if the '96s were difficult to taste in early December).

This wine was tasted as a part of wine collector Bruce Fingeret's 50th Birthday Party, July 2008.

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

The Guigals recently completed yet another major expansion of their winemaking facility and with the purchase of some state-of-the-art bottling equipment can now produce magnums for the first time. Still, said Philippe Guigal, they will be extremely hesitant to make magnums of La Mouline, La Landonne or La Turque, as demand for these bottles already far exceeds their supply. The Guigals, who tend to release wines later than most of their Rhone Valley colleagues and usually bring out new vintages in October, had just released several '96s from major appellations (Hermitage, Cote-Rotie, Chateauneuf du Pape and Gigondas). While these wines were distinctly higher in acidity and more tightly wrapped than most of the '97s and '98s I was tasting on my recent trip, they were consistently stylish and aromatically intriguing. The '96 cru bottlings, still in barrel in November, boast richness that transcends this rather "northern" vintage, thanks to late harvesting that lasted until the middle of October.

Following the construction of a huge new winemaking facility in 1993, Marcel Guigal quickly found that he was once again running out of space-not just for barrel storage but for bottling and labeling wines fast enough to keep up with worldwide demand for his wines. So Guigal is building yet another facility adjacent to the new one. On my recent visit, I tasted at length with Guigal son Philippe, who recently joined his father full-time following the completion of his wine studies and several stages in Bordeaux, California and Australia. Guigal's habit of late harvesting has clearly worked to his favor in '96 and '97; his cru bottlings of Cote-Rotie will be at the top of their respective vintages (even if the '96s were difficult to taste in early December).

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

The Guigals recently completed yet another major expansion of their winemaking facility and with the purchase of some state-of-the-art bottling equipment can now produce magnums for the first time. Still, said Philippe Guigal, they will be extremely hesitant to make magnums of La Mouline, La Landonne or La Turque, as demand for these bottles already far exceeds their supply. The Guigals, who tend to release wines later than most of their Rhone Valley colleagues and usually bring out new vintages in October, had just released several '96s from major appellations (Hermitage, Cote-Rotie, Chateauneuf du Pape and Gigondas). While these wines were distinctly higher in acidity and more tightly wrapped than most of the '97s and '98s I was tasting on my recent trip, they were consistently stylish and aromatically intriguing. The '96 cru bottlings, still in barrel in November, boast richness that transcends this rather "northern" vintage, thanks to late harvesting that lasted until the middle of October.

Following the construction of a huge new winemaking facility in 1993, Marcel Guigal quickly found that he was once again running out of space-not just for barrel storage but for bottling and labeling wines fast enough to keep up with worldwide demand for his wines. So Guigal is building yet another facility adjacent to the new one. On my recent visit, I tasted at length with Guigal son Philippe, who recently joined his father full-time following the completion of his wine studies and several stages in Bordeaux, California and Australia. Guigal's habit of late harvesting has clearly worked to his favor in '96 and '97; his cru bottlings of Cote-Rotie will be at the top of their respective vintages (even if the '96s were difficult to taste in early December).

Wilton’s delivered. It’s not London’s trendiest restaurant. It predates Michelin stars and will probably outlive them. Wilton’s is the epitome of a gastronomic institution whose immutability is its strength, not a weakness.

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

This wine was tasted informally at the Rusty Staub Charity Dinner, held in April 2015 at the Bouley Test Kitchen in New York City.

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

Guigal's La Mouline, arguably the single greatest example of Côte-Rôtie and unquestionably one of the three or four finest syrah-based wines in the world, is actually a marque, or a trademark. Technically, La Mouline is part of the Côte Blonde hillside, at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation above the town of Ampuis. But La Mouline is also a specific site—a one-hectare vineyard, probably the oldest in Côte-Rôtie, with an average vine age of about 80 years.x000D The earliest vines in La Mouline date back to 1893, when planting in Côte-Rôtie started up again after phylloxera. The Guigals planted some additional vines, including a good bit of viognier, after they purchased the Mouline parcel from the Dervieux family in the early 1960s (Marcel had just joined his father Etienne in 1961 and was soon to become the locomotive of the Côte-Rôtie appellation). At that time, there were still some cherry trees in the vineyard.x000D x000D The syrah here is all petit sérine, the small-berried old syrah that produces extraordinary creaminess and flavor intensity while normally avoiding hard tannins. This is an important advantage, because so many of today's Côte-Rôties are from clonal selections that produce larger grapes, with less structure and concentration of fruit. The vineyard is co-planted with 11% viognier, a very high percentage for a modern-day Côte-Rôtie. When vines die, the Guigals replace them with the same variety to maintain a constant ratio of syrah to viognier. The soil of La Mouline is light, shallow, fast-draining limestone, mica and flint, plus a lot of calcareous silt and clay (essentially windblown dust), all underlaid by huge rocks. La Mouline is a very dry site: drought is more of a threat to the vines than excessive moisture.x000D La Mouline may be the most perfect amphitheater vineyard in the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with an exposition from full south to southeast. Wines have been made from this site for 2,400 years. It's a true heat trap: according to Philippe Guigal, Marcel's son, the sun heats the rocks, and the rocks radiate the heat toward the inside of the vineyard. So even at three o'clock in the morning in August, according to Philippe, the temperature amidst these vines can be 80 degrees. The vineyard is planted to a dense 10,000 vines per hectare. There are numerous very small terraces, some holding just a few vines, and some of the original walls still exist.x000D Once the Guigals decide the moment is right to pick, the grapes in La Mouline can be harvested in half a day. Prior to 1993, Guigal did not even own a destemmer. Since then, the Guigals may destem their fruit completely or not at all, depending on how ripe the stems are in a given year. Typically the fruit is partially destemmed. (Note that even today Guigal's La Landonne is not destemmed, with the exception of the difficult harvest of 2002.) Destemming decisions may not track what you think you know about vintages. For example, in the very difficult 1993 vintage, Guigal harvested very late. The berries were not completely ripe but the stems were, and no destemming was done. In '95, a year in which the grapes ripened thoroughly, the stems were completely green, and all the stems were removed.x000D According to Philippe Guigal, there are no secrets to the vinification of La Mouline. The fruit spends three to four weeks in the vat, with classic rémontage: 15-minute pumpovers every morning and afternoon. In lighter years, the Guigals don't look for a lot of extraction. Guigal uses no commercial yeasts. Since the La Mouline vineyard ripens early and is usually the first fruit into the cuverie, there aren't yet any yeasts floating around in the air. This normally allows for the equivalent of a cold maceration of five or six days before the fermentation starts. But the must is not chilled, except in years like '97, when the grapes came in already very warm. Since 1981, the wines have been fermented ...

These wines were tasted over dinner at Babbo Restaurant in New York during June of 2009.

These wines were tasted over dinner at Babbo Restaurant in New York during June of 2009.

This wine was tasted during collector Bruce Fingeret's birthday party, July 2010

This was a wonderful evening centered around some of the best Italian dishes I’ve eaten in a long while. Who knew that it would transpire, in all places, in Bangkok? We enjoyed a stellar array of wines, and more importantly, the guests really made it a memorable evening.

This wine was tasted during collector Bruce Fingeret's birthday party, July 2010

This wine was tasted during La Paulée de New York, 2007.