2020 E Guigal Cotes-du-Rhone Rouge, Northern Rhone

Leading off the 2020s, the 2020 Côtes Du Rhône is up-front, ripe, and textured, with pretty, medium-bodied aromas and flavors of cherries, flowers, and peppery herbs. It has a soft, elegant mouthfeel and is undeniably delicious.

89-91 points jebdunnuck.com

While this reference point estate continues to produce brilliant wines, there are subtle yet not insignificant changes happening. First and foremost, there’s a new Côte Rôtie La La in the lineup, the Côte Rôtie La Reynarde, which was created in honor of Philippe and Eves’s twin sons, Etienne and Charles. Coming from a tiny parcel in the Fongeant lieu-dit planted in 2015 and all Syrah, it’s not destemmed (like La Landonne) and fermented using only punch downs (similar to La Turque.) It will see the same 40+ months in new barrels as its siblings. While 2022 will be the first year released, I’ve been lucky enough to taste this cuvée since 2019 (these will not be released), and stylistically it fits in nicely between the La Turque and La Landonne. Quality-wise, it unquestionably merits being included in the lineup. Secondly, there’s been a shift in the source of the oak for the barrels over the past few years starting in 2020, moving away from Seguin-Moreau to a tighter grained, less impactful Chassin wood. This is driven largely by the changing climate and the family’s goal to have slightly less impact, and you can clearly see the change in the current releases. Looking at the releases reviewed here, the 2022s are ripe yet not excessive, and despite the early season heat, there were cooler nights, and the wines have notable tannic structure. Marcel compared the vintage to 1982. The 2021s clearly come from a more challenging vintage, yet all the releases have good ripeness, more medium-bodied profiles, and solid, sound, satisfying profiles. These will be on a faster evolutionary track. The 2021 whites, however, are beautiful and have terrific richness paired with freshness. The 2020s are the fruit bombs of the lineup and clearly lead with their fruit. It’s clearly another great vintage for this estate, although I still think the nod goes to the 2019s. Of the trio of truly exceptional vintages between 2018 and 2020 here, the 2019s are the tip of the pyramid and remind me of the 2010s. These are ripe, powerful, structured wines that won’t be for the instant gratification crowd, but the top three La Las are absolute legends in the making. If you can afford them, buy them. I wrote the following summary in 2019 and thought it worth updating and including here. This reference point estate was created in 1946 by Etienne Guigal and has been one of the world’s greatest wine estates for over seven decades now. Today, it’s Etienne’s son, Marcel Guigal, and his son Philippe, who continue to keep Domaine Guigal at the leading edge of the appellation. As I’ve written in the past, one of my highlights tasting each year is with this team, which now also includes Jacques Desvernois, who was previously at Paul Jaboulet Aîné. Usually, due to the long élevage of most cuvées, we taste through four vintages of each of the main releases. The top Côte Rôties see (and have always seen) a full four years in new French oak, and even their larger production Southern Rhônes see extended time in oak. While a lot is said about the extended élevage in new oak, I don’t know anyone who tastes mature examples of these wines regularly who has any doubts about the genius here. In short, these single vineyard Côte Rôties and Hermitages are some of the greatest wines money can buy. Quickly looking at the releases here, there are two main Saint Josephs, the Vignes des Hospice and the Lieu-dit Saint Joseph. The Saint Joseph Vignes des Hospices comes all from the incredibly steep (and picturesque) vineyard perched just above the town of Tournon. This is a cooler, mostly east-facing vineyard of pure granite soils (it shows similarities with the Les Bessards lieu-dit just across the river) and harvest here always lags other nearby sites by 5-7 days. I always find a Hermitage-like character in this wine, and it ages beautifully. The Saint Joseph Lieu-Dit Saint Joseph comes from a warmer, south-facing vineyard that shares the appellation’s name. This is one of the top terroirs in the region, and this cuvée is always a more broad, opulent wine that doesn’t have the tannic backbone of the Vignes des Hospice yet offers more up-front appeal. As to the Côte Rôtie, there are six releases. The Brune et Blonde can be thought of as the entry-level cuvée and comes from a mix of vineyards, most of which are estate, yet there is some purchased fruit. It drinks well on release and has a solid 15-20 years of longevity in top vintages. A smaller production release, the Côte Rôtie Château d’Ampuis is named after the Château d’Ampuis estate (which lies in the town of Ampuis, right up along the Rhône River, and was purchased by the Guigals in 1995) and is a blend of their top seven estate vineyards, including the La Garde, Le Clos, Grande-Plantee, Pommière, Pavillon, Le Moulin, and La Viria lieux-dits. It sees 42 months in new French oak and is handled exactly like the single vineyard releases. There are roughly 2,500 cases of this produced, and in top years, its quality can be just as high as the single vineyard releases, making it a terrific value. There are four single vineyards that are affectionally labeled “La Las,” the La Mouline, La Turque, La Reynarde, and La Landonne. First made in 1966, the La Mouline (400-500 cases) comes from a parcel in the Côte Blonde and is the warmest, earliest site of the single vineyards. It includes some of the oldest vines of the estate, sees upwards of 10% co-fermented Viognier, see only pump-overs during fermentation, and has always spent four years in new French oak. The La Mouline is always the most approachable of the single vineyard releases and is also the earliest maturing. Nevertheless, top vintages can easily keep for 30 years. The Côte Rotie La Turque (400 cases) was first made in 1985 and comes from a steep parcel in the Côte Brune. It sees slightly less Viognier than the La Mouline and is a co-fermented blend of 93% Syrah and 7% Viognier. It sees a more aggressive punch-down regime during fermentation and spends 48 months in new French oak. The La Turque always splits the difference between the La Mouline and La Landonne stylistically and shows slightly more minerality and structure than the La Mouline, yet not quite the austerity and structure found in the La Landonne. It normally needs 10-15 years of bottle age to show its true self. A new cuvée introduced in 2022 in honor of Eve and Philippe’s twin sons, the Côte Rotie La Turque comes from a parcel in the Fongeant lieu-dit, just above the Côte Brune, and is 100% Syrah that’s not destemmed and vinified similar to the La Turque, seeing only punch downs. The stems show here, giving this a style not too far off the La Landonne, and it fits nicely between the La Turque and La Landonne. Lastly, the Côte Rotie La Landonne comes from a great lieu-dit in the Côte Brune side of the appellation, and there are roughly 1,000 cases produced in a vintage. It is always 100% Syrah and is made using a cap immersion technique for fermentation. This cuvée was first made in 1978, and each vintage has spent 48 months in new French oak. The La Landonne is always the most backward, structured, age-worthy in the lineup and needs the most bottle age to hit maturity. It is also, however, the most consistent in terms of quality of the three single vineyards. As to the Hermitage releases, there are three cuvées, a base Hermitage and a Hermitage Ex-Voto in both red and white. Guigals purchased their primary holdings in Hermitage from Jean-Louis Grippat (now 90-year-old Marsanne vines in the Les Murets lieu-dit) and Domaine De Vallouit (mostly in the Greffieux lieu-dit) in 2001. They also gained parcels in the lieu-dit Saint Joseph and Vignes de Hospice with the Grippat purchase. Today, they have parcels in Le Méal, Beaumes, Dionnieres, and Les Bessards. The entry-level Hermitage sees three years in 50% new French oak. They release a tiny production cuvée called Ex-Voto only in top vintages, and the red sees the same four years in French oak as the single vineyard Côte Rôties. The Ex-Voto Blanc is primarily Marsanne blended with 10% Roussanne, from Les Murets (90%) and l’Hermite (10%) lieux-dits, aged 30 months in new French oak. It sees primary and malolactic fermentation in barrel and is bottled unfined and unfiltered. This is a rich, powerful Hermitage Blanc that has plenty of toastiness in its youth and starts to drink brilliantly with 4-5 years of bottle age.

This Shiraz, Grenache Mourvedre blend is deep and dark red. Shiny. Fresh fruits with red berries and spices.  Rounded and smooth tannins. A full-bodied, rich and intensely aromatic wine. Dense fruits  with a long finish and plenty of elegance and finesse due to the well balanced tannins and fruit.