We have just landed a small parcel of what is Guigal’s flagship wine, Côte-Rôtie, Brune et Blonde, from the outstanding 2019 vintage, available at what is easily the sharpest price on the market.
Guigal’s Lalas may well be the wines that grab the limelight, though it is this wine (and their straight Côtes du Rhône), that the property hangs its qualitative hat on.
The fruit for Brune & Blonde is sourced from multiple plots on the steep slopes of the Côte Blonde, which is mostly silicone & limestone soil, and the Côte Brune, which is richer in iron oxide. It is invariably a blend of 96% Syrah with a dash of Viognier making up the difference. The two varieties are co-fermented in stainless steel before spending three years in oak, 50% of which is new.
The resulting wine is a benchmark for both quality Côte-Rôtie and for the house style. It is always a wine that rewards time in the cellar.
Rated 95 by Josh Raynolds, and 94 by John Gilman, the 2019 is a contender for one of the greatest vintages of Brune and Blonde to be released: “This is one of the best vintages of Brune et Blonde that I have tasted from the Guigal family in several years!” writes Gilman.
The wine is lying with us, packed in original cases of twelve bottles, and is a fraction of the price of its more famous stablemates. It will reward patience.
Inky ruby. Vibrant, spice-accented cherry and boysenberry scents are complicated by hints of black pepper, candied flowers and licorice. Supple and broad in the mouth, offering juicy red and blue fruit preserves, spicecake, olive paste and violet pastille flavors that tighten up steadily with air. The floral note repeats strongly on the clinging finish, which shows excellent clarity and velvety, slowly building tannins. There are almost a quarter-million bottles of this wine made in a typical vintage, by the way. 50% new oak. Drink between 2026-2037.
The 2019 Côte-Rôtie “Brune et Blonde” bottling from Maison E. Guigal is an excellent young wine. The cépages this year is ninety-six percent syrah and four percent viognier, with the wine aged for three years in small oak barrels. Fifty percent of the casks are new. The wine comes in at fourteen percent octane in 2019 and offers up a superb bouquet of red and black raspberries, smoked meats, a touch of hazelnut, pepper, a beautiful base of soil tones, woodsmoke and gently spicy oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and beautifully soil-driven in personality, with a fine core of fruit, lovely focus and grip, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and seamlessly balanced finish. This is one of the best vintages of Brune et Blonde that I have tasted from the Guigal family in several years! Drink between 2035-2075.
