Guigal - Côte-Rôtie Brune et Blonde 2018

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"The 2018 Côte Rôtie Brune Et Blonde comes from multiple terroirs spread throughout the appellation. It shines for its elegance and finesse and is more medium-bodied, yet brings beautiful fruit, seamless tannins, and classic Côte Rôtie aromas and flavors. The purity of fruit is truly something. It’s drinking brilliantly today and will be drinking brilliantly in 10-15 years as well." Jeb Dunnuck

Guigal Description

The Guigal domain was founded in 1946 by Etienne Guigal in the ancient village of Ampuis, home of the wines of the Côte-Rôtie. In these vineyards that are over 2400 years old, you can still see the small terraced walls characteristic of the Roman period. Etienne Guigal arrived in this region in 1923 at the age of 14. He made wine for over 67 vintages and, at the beginning of his career, participated in the development of the Vidal-Fleury establishment.

Despite his young age, Marcel Guigal took over from his father in 1961 when the latter was victim to a brutal illness rendering him blind. Marcel's hard work and perseverance enabled the Guigals to buy out Vidal-Fleury in 1984, although the establishment retains its own identity and commercial autonomy. In 2000, the Guigals purchased the Jean-Louis Grippat estate in Saint-Joseph and Hermitage, as well as the Domaine de Vallouit in Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, Saint-Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage.

In the cellars of the Guigal estate in Ampuis, the northern appellations of the Rhône Valley are produced and aged. These are the appellations of Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu, Hermitage, Saint-Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage. The great appellations of the Southern Rhône, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas, Tavel and Côtes-du-Rhône, are also aged in the Ampuis cellars.

Jeb Dunnuck: 94 Points

Another incredible base wine is the 2018 Côte Rôtie Brune Et Blonde, which comes from multiple terroirs spread throughout the appellation. It shines for its elegance and finesse and is more medium-bodied, yet brings beautiful fruit, seamless tannins, and classic Côte Rôtie aromas and flavors. The purity of fruit is truly something. It’s drinking brilliantly today and will be drinking brilliantly in 10-15 years as well.

Wine Spectator: 93 Points

A View from the Cellar: 92 Points

"It seems to me that the 2018 vintage is the first to bear this slightly different label of 'Brune et Blonde de Guigal' for this cuvée, which had previously been labeled as 'Brune et Blonde' dating back at least to the first vintage I purchased of this wine, which was the 1978. As I have mentioned before, I used to buy this wine by the case in every good vintage and it has always been an excellent example. The 2018 is no exception, offering a deep and complex aromatic constellation of red and black raspberries, smoked meats, pepper, a complex base of soil tones, lovely spice elements, woodsmoke and a topnote of cedary oak. On the palate the wine is bright, full-bodied, focused and quite light on its feet for a 2018, with a lovely core of fruit, excellent stony undertow, impressive focus and grip and a long, complex and ripely tannic finish. This is young and needs some bottle age, but it will be an excellent wine in due course."-John Gilman