Guigal

The label on a bottle of Guigal La Mouline one of the "La La's"

Guigal, formally Établissements Guigal, is a winery and négociant business situated in Ampuis in the northern part of the Rhône region in France. Guigal produces wine from appellations across the Rhône region, but is particularly noted for their Côte-Rôtie wines and played a pioneering role in improving Côte-Rôtie's international reputation.[1] Guigal's single vineyard wines La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque (sometimes referred to collectively as "La La's"[2]) are internationally renowned.[3] In 2007, the release of the 2003 vintage of Guigal's "La La" wines set the record for most expensive release of any Rhone wine, with bottles retailing for as much as $800.[4]

History

Guigal was established in 1946 by Étienne Guigal, who had worked for Vidal Fleury for 15 years before setting up his own business. It has been managed by his son Marcel Guigal since 1961. In 1984, Guigal bought Vidal Fleury but continues to operate it as a separate business. In 2000, Guigal bought and absorbed two other wineries: the estate Jean-Louis Grippat in Saint-Joseph and the Domaine de Vallouit, with vineyard holdings in Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, Saint-Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage, which added some high-end vineyards in other appellations to the Guigal range. In 2006 the Domaine de Bonserine was purchased by Guigal.[5] In recent years, Marcel's son Philippe Guigal has been active as a winemaker at Guigal.[1][6]

Guigal, under Marcel Guigal, came to international fame in the early- to mid-1980s when Robert M. Parker, Jr. followed by other wine critics heaped praise on Guigal's top Côte-Rôtie wines, in particular the three single vineyard wines La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque. Parker comments that "In the past 26 years I have spent visiting wineries and vignerons, I have never seen a producer so fanatical about quality as Marcel Guigal."[3] This attention contributed to the Rhône wines' improved international fame in general, and in particular led Côte-Rôtie to be seen more on par with Hermitage than in previous times.[1] This also meant that the top Côte-Rôtie wines increased in price to reach and later follow and sometimes surpass that of the top Hermitage wines.[4] In 2006 Marcel Guigal was awarded the Decanter Man of the Year award for his contribution and dedication to the Rhône.[7]

Wines and vineyard holdings

Four bottles of Guigal wine showing the different label designs. The two bottles on the left carry the standard Guigal label and the two bottles on the right are high-end wines with individual label designs.

Guigal produces a wide range of red, white and rosé wine from the northern and southern Rhône appellations. These wines are sold under the appellation's name with similar-looking wine labels across the range.

The high-end wines, on the other hand, have individual labels of very varying design and mostly carry vineyard designations, sometimes an official lieu-dit and sometimes Guigal's own designation. These wines are only produced from Guigal's own vineyards.

Guigals total vineyard holdings is slightly over 45 hectares (110 acres),[8] of which around half is in Côte-Rôtie.[1]

Of the 25,000 cases of wine typically made in the Condrieu appellation each vintage, around 45% is produced by Guigal.[3]

Côte-Rôtie wines

The Côte-Rôtie wines, for which Guigal is most famous, are produced on three quality levels:

For the vineyard Côte-Rôties, Guigal has received more 100 point ratings by Robert M. Parker than any other single wine producer. As of 2009, this meant 21 wines, consisting of seven vintages of La Landonne (1985-2005), nine vintages of La Mouline (1976-2005), and five vintages of La Turque (1985-2005).[17]

Other high-end wines

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Jancis Robinson, ed. (2006). "Guigal". Oxford Companion to Wine (Third Edition ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 336. ISBN 0-19-860990-6.
  2. "Spotlight on Côte Rôtie". WineAnorak. 2002-04-17. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 Parker, Robert (2005). The World's Greatest Wine Estates. Simon & Schuster. p. 361. ISBN 978-0-7432-3771-0.
  4. 4.0 4.1 J. Molesworth "Guigal Sets Price Record for Rhône" Wine Spectator, Feb 8th, 2007
  5. "E. Guigal Buys Neighboring Domaine de Bonserine". Wine Spectator. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
  6. Guigal: The Estate. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  7. "News from Ampuis". Jancis Robinson. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
  8. Guigal: The Vineyard. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  9. Guigal: The Wines - Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde de Guigal. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  10. Jefford, Andrew (2006). The New France. Mitchell Beazley. p. 142. ISBN 978-1-84533-000-2.
  11. Guigal: The Wines - Côte-Rôtie "Château d'Ampuis". Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  12. "Chateau of Ampuis". Syrah du Monde. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
  13. "The Estate - Page 3". Guigal. Retrieved 2010-05-18.
  14. Guigal: The Wines - La Landonne. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  15. Guigal: The Wines - La Mouline. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  16. Guigal: The Wines - La Turque. Retrieved January 6, 2010.
  17. eRobertParker. Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  18. Guigal: The Wines - Condrieu - "La Doriane". Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  19. Guigal: The Wines - Condrieu - "Luminiscence". Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  20. Guigal: The Wines - Ermitage red - "Ex-Voto". Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  21. Guigal: The Wines - Ermitage white - "Ex-Voto". Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  22. Guigal: The Wines - Saint-Joseph red - "Lieu dit Saint-Joseph". Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  23. Guigal: The Wines - Saint-Joseph white - "Lieu dit Saint-Joseph". Retrieved January 6, 2009.
  24. Guigal: The Wines - Saint-Joseph red - "Vignes de l'Hospice". Retrieved January 6, 2009.

External links