2007 Hermitage Ex-Voto

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."