Guigal

The Guigal Estate was founded in 1946 by Etienne Guigal in the small village of Ampuis in the Northern-Rhône area.

Étienne Gigal arrived in Ampuis as a young boy to pick apricots  At the age of 14, his brother helped him secure a job at Vidal-Fleury, then the largest winery in the Rhône Valley. Within 15 years, he had risen to the position of head winemaker, but in 1946, immediately after the war, he left to found his own company: E. Guigal.

His son Marcel was drawn into the business at a young age and in 1961 he took charge of everything. In the early to mid-1980s, critic Robert Parker discovered Guigal’s finest Côtes-Rôties and showered them with praise, which directly contributed to enhancing the appellation’s reputation worldwide. In 2006, Marcel was named ‘Man of the Year’ by Decanter for his contribution to the development of the Rhône region. Today, the company is run by the third generation: Philippe Guigal, an oenologist educated at the University of Burgundy, became a winemaker in 1997 at the age of 22.

Vineyards

Guigal owns around 150 acres, all in the Northern Rhône, including what is widely regarded as the finest collection of vineyards in Côte-Rôtie, as well as carefully selected plots in Condrieu, Saint-Joseph, Hermitage and Crozes-Hermitage. In 2017, the family took its first step south by acquiring Château de Nalys in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

Their most famous wines, known in collector circles as ‘La Las’, are three Côte-Rôtie wines from a single vineyard: La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque. Collectively, these three wines have received many times 100-point ratings from wine critics.

Terroir

Côte-Rôtie translates as ‘roasted slope’, a fitting description for the steep, south-facing slopes above the Rhône, where the sun shines brightly and temperatures are high. The appellation is divided into two parts with very different soil profiles: Côte-Blonde has silicate and granite soils, whilst Côte-Brune is dominated by schist, granite and iron oxide. This contrast is clearly evident in the wines, Côte-Blonde generally produces more floral, approachable wines; Cote-Brune produces darker, more structured wines.

Grape varieties

The foundation of Côte-Rôtie is the Syrah variety, almost always with a small addition of Viognier, with which it is co-fermented, Guigal uses around 4% in his ‘Brun’ and ‘Blond’ wines to lend the tannins softness and roundness. In ‘La Moulin’, this percentage rises to around 11%, making it the most aromatic of the three single-vineyard wines. ‘La Landon’, by contrast, is a pure Syrah.

Winemaking and wines

Guigal harvests late, aiming for full phenolic ripeness, they are usually among the last to harvest in this appellation. Fermentation takes place in closed stainless steel tanks with automatic pumping over and lasts around three weeks. However, the real highlight is what happens next: the wines are aged for 36 months in French oak barrels, with up to 50% of the barrels being new. For the finest single-vineyard wines, this period is even longer: La Landonne is aged for 40 months or more in 100% new oak barrels. All the barrels are made on site, in Guigal’s own cooperage, which is a rarity in the wine world and allows the company to control every stage from the tree to the bottle.

His other famous wine is from the appellation Hermitage, in the Northern-Rhône area as well. Making its debut only in 2003, the “Ex Voto” Hermitage appears in both a red (Syrah) and a white (Marsanne and Roussanne grapes) variant. It is a cuvée, which means it’s produced from various vineyards throughout the Hermitage appellation.

Furthermore, there is a white wine from the appellation “Condrieu” (also in the Northern-Rhône), made entirely from Viognier grapes. Its debut vintage was 1994 and only 600 cases are produced every year. In charge of the domaine is Marcel Guigal who has the same passion for making top quality wines as his father did.