Finca Decero Malbec 2015 proudly stands as Wine #34 in Wine Spectator’s Top 100 Wines of 2017. Rated 91 Points by WS and also noted as a “Smart Buy”, this wine is described as “an elegant style, with a core of vibrant cherry, plum and currant flavors that are supported by fresh acidity. This is supple mid palate, with a finish that lingers with dried ginger and white pepper details.”

The Washington Post’s wine columnist, Dave McIntyre, included E. Guigal Cotes du Rhone Rosé 2017 in his latest column as a great value wine. He elaborated that Guigal is “perhaps the most famous producer in the northern Rhone Valley, and its rosé is a perennial favorite.” Additionally, he noted the wine “offers great juicy fruit and refreshing acidity.”

Read the full article here.

The E. Guigal 2015 Saint-Joseph Rouge was featured in Brian Freedman’s Forbes.com column “Wines of The Week: Syrah And Viognier For The Summer,” just in time to inspire our weekend wine purchases! Brian selected the Saint-Joseph Rouge from E. Guigal as the red Wine of the Week, which he called “one of the most instantly recognizable names of the Rhone Valley.” He described the Saint-Joseph as having “generous fruit complicated by the quintessentially savory notes of floral peppercorn and serious minerality.” In addition, Brian noted that the wine “shows an appealing mix of cherry, plum, fig cake, and star anise, all of it cut through with mouthwatering acidity that allows the subtly smoky finish to linger.”

Read the full story here.

Writer Russ Winton included the wine he enjoyed over July 4th weekend with his Modesto Bee readers. Within Russ’ Wine List column, he shares that the 2015 E. Guigal Cotes du Rhone Rouge  “is aged two years and a great value at $15. A light chill made it perfect for the July 4 barbecue.”

Read the full story here.

Super flyovers of Cote-Rotie and a dive into the Guigal cellar. If you didn’t know how steep the vineyards of Cote-Rotie were before – and how backbreaking the work to harvest – this video certainly illustrates the point.  As the saying goes, on the flats of Bordeaux 1 person can cover 250 acres through mechanization.  In Burgundy, where work must all be done by hand because of vineyard spacing, 1 person can cover 12 acres.  In the Northern Rhone, everything has to be done by hand AND the slopes are so steep, 1 person can work 5 acres.

Richard Hemming MW writes one of the first pieces covering the new Chateau de Nalys wines  from Guigal.  You can read the full article here (subscription required), and the comments on the wines below.  While these initial reviews are great, it is indeed the comments that are most exciting.

Guigal, Saintes Pierres de Nalys 2017 Châteauneuf-du-Pape
36% Clairette, 29% Bourboulenc, 25% Grenache Blanc, 7% Roussanne, 3% Picardin. 20% aged in demi-muids for eight months. 50% malolactic fermentation. Bottled June 2018.
More overtly grapey aromas than the Guigal Châteauneuf, but the same substantial concentration and waxy texture. Melon and peach fruit on the long aftertaste. Achieves volume without distortion. (RH)
Drink 2018-2028
17

Guigal, Ch de Nalys 2017 Châteauneuf-du-Pape
43% Roussanne, 33% Grenache Blanc, 15% Clairette, 6% Bourboulenc, 3% Piquepoul. 70% aged in demi-muids for eight months. 60% malolactic fermentation. Bottled June 2018.
Creamier and more sweetly spiced than their Saintes Pierres, with plush, lush texture and great fragrance. Lavish oak, but it’s not ostentatious. The orchard fruit of the Roussanne comes through clearly. (RH)
Drink 2017-2027
17.5

Guigal, Saintes Pierres de Nalys 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape
69% Grenache, 20% Syrah, 5% Cinsault, 4% Muscardin, 1% Counoise, 1% Mourvèdre. 10% aged in foudres for 18 months. Bottled June 2018.
Riper red fruit than the Guigal 2015 with juicy blackberry fruit and black olive aromas too. Very full. A rip-roarer, and still quite raw. Has the power of the vintage, so should improve. (RH)
Drink 2018-2024
16+

Guigal, Ch de Nalys 2016 Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Barrel sample. 59% Grenache, 32% Syrah, 5% Mourvèdre, 3% Counoise, 1% Vacarèse. 30% aged in barriques and foudres.
Superb red fruit, really showcasing the purity of Grenache. Clay-textured tannins. Great perfume, with a scent a bit like fennel. There’s a real broad scope of flavour here, although it will need time to express itself fully. (RH)
Drink 2019-2031
17.5

The Best Wine of the World Competition (bwwcompetition.com) takes into account consumer and professional voting in a 3 month first round period, with the top 30 wines blind tasted by professionals. In a  remarkable showing, Guigal comes out with the following honors:

Winner Best Winery of the World: E. Guigal

Winner Best White Wine of the World: E. Guigal Ermitage Ex-Voto Blanc 2013

Winner Best French White Wine: E. Guigal Ermitage Ex-Voto Blanc 2013

3rd Place Best Red Wine of the World: E. Guigal La Landonne 2009

Best French Wine: E. Guigal La Landonne 2009

Best French Red Wine: E. Guigal La Landonne 2009

Truly a testament to the Guigal family given the other top producers we respect immensely that also took awards, estates such as Harlan, Keller, Armand Rousseau, Weingut Knoll, Chateau Suduiraut, Coche-Dury, and Domaine de Chevalier.

“The 2015 Côtes du Rhône checks in as a final blend of 50% Syrah, 40% Grenache and the rest Mourvèdre. It offers a juicy, Syrah-driven bouquet of ripe blackberry fruits, smoked meats, pepper, and hints of underbrush as well as a rich, medium to full-bodied, polished style on the palate. It has ripe tannin, plenty of mid-palate depth, and as I wrote when I tasted it from barrel close to two years ago, it’s a beautiful Côtes du Rhône that will deliver the goods.”

Tim McKirdy of VinePair authors a piece titled: Making the Case for Age-Worthy Sauvignon Blanc. Yes, Sauvignon Blanc.  In his exploration of Sauvignon Blanc that can age, McKirdy focuses on one Loire producer and one New Zealand producer. Unsurprisingly (to us), Dog Point Vineyards is the New Zealand producer, with a focus on their utterly distinctive Section 94.

A few choice lines:

1. “When we commenced with the Dog Point label, one of our prime objectives was to make wines that would age respectfully,” winemaker and co-founder Ivan Sutherland writes in a recent email exchange.
2. Closely controlled cropping and canopy management allow Dog Point to achieve precise grape ripeness before 100 percent hand-harvesting — something that bucks the regional mechanized trend.
3. “Aging certainly softens the wine, with less lifted aromatics and toned-down acidity,” Sutherland says. “In desirable climatic years, with controlled cropping, the wines develop a nice dried-herb, slightly honeysuckle character, with a softer, rounded palate.”

You can read the full article here.

The Drinks Business reports on a class led by Bollinger cellar master Denis Bunner in Hong Kong.  Bunner spent a full decade studying disgorgement while he was at the Comité Champagne. He pointed out that the subject is both not so well understood, and underestimated. The great insight he offers is to imagine that disgorgement can provide as much as oxygen in one event as aging a Champagne for 20 years in a cellar.

The other major point Bunner delved into was the barrel fermentation that is such a foundation of Bollinger’s approach to winemaking. More specifically, how the barrel aging protects the wine by in effect “vaccinating” it against oxygen.

The full article can be read here.