1999 - Cote Rotie Chateau d'Ampuis, E. Guigal

The 1999 Cote Rotie Chateau d’Ampuis is a knockout bottle of wine that gives up gorgeously mature aromas and flavors of kirsch, blackberry, game, olive and spice in its medium-bodied, seamless and elegant profile. It’s a rock-star effort that’s drinking at full maturity. One of the reference point estates for top quality wines in the world today, the family run Guigal operation was created in 1946 by Etienne Guigal. Today, Etienne’s son, Marcel, and his son Philippe, are firmly in control here, and are without a doubt producing some of the most singular, sought after wines in the world. Due to the size of this tasting, I’ll keep my comments short, but the incredible quality coming from this operation is astounding, and a tasting here is always one of the highlights of any trip through the region. Furthermore, while a lot is said about the extended oak aging regime here, I don’t know anyone who tastes mature examples of these wines on a regular basis that still has any doubts about the genius going on here. In short, these single vineyard (and their blends as well) Cote Roties are some of the greatest wines money can buy. For this tasting (which, with the Guigals, is always a large one!), we focused on their Saint Joseph Vignes des Hospice release, and then three of their Cote Roties, starting with the classic Brune et Blonde, then the Chateau d’Ampuis, and finishing with their single vineyard La Mouline. Looking first at their Saint Joseph Vignes des Hospices release, it comes all from the incredibly steep (and picturesque) vineyard perched just above the town of Tournon. The exposure here (which is critical for Saint Joseph as the more southern facing the plot, the warmer the site is) is mostly east facing and the soils are pure granite (identical to the decomposed granite found in the Les Bessards lieu-dit on Hermitage Hills). Compared to the Saint Joseph lieu-dit, which has a slightly more southern exposure, harvest here is always 5-7 days later. Moving nort

(bottled in October) Bright medium ruby. Knockout liqueur-like nose combines black raspberry, blueberry, blackberry, black cherry and licorice, with just a suggestion of surmaturite. Lush, silky and seamless on the palate, with a deep flavor of dark chocolate. Offers great volume without any excess weight. Powerful but not hot. Finishes with superb length and richness. The best vintage yet for this bottling.