Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
-
Vinous
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.
-
Jeb Dunnuck
I always love the Brune et Blonde cuvée from Guigal, and their 2019 is no exception. The 2019 Côte Rôtie Brune Et Blonde is certainly the most approachable and ready-to-go of the Côte Rôties and has a pretty, classic nose of red and black raspberries, ground pepper, and spice, with some meaty nuances. It's medium to full-bodied, balanced, and just incredibly satisfying. Drink bottles over the coming 10-15 years.
-
Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
A stalwart in the Guigal lineup, the 2019 Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde features gently herbal and smoky nuances on the nose, plus plenty of mouthwatering red-berry fruit. It's medium to full-bodied, seems just slightly richer and more concentrated than the 2018 and finishes silky and long. Range: 90-92
-
Wine Spectator
Delivers a pronounced smoked mesquite thread that weaves through red berry and red tea flavors. Tightly wound on the palate, with incense and graphite building toward a savory finish. Syrah and Viognier. Best from 2025 through 2033.
Marked by an unmistakable deep purple hue and savory aromatics, Syrah makes an intense, powerful and often age-worthy red. Native to the Northern Rhône, Syrah achieves its maximum potential in the steep village of Hermitage and plays an important component in the Red Rhône Blends of the south, adding color and structure to Grenache and Mourvèdre. Syrah is the most widely planted grape of Australia and is important in California and Washington. Sommelier Secret—Such a synergy these three create together, the Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre trio often takes on the shorthand term, “GSM.”
The cultivation of vines here began with Greek settlers who arrived in 600 BC. Its proximity to Vienne was important then and also when that city became a Roman settlement but its situation, far from the negociants of Tain, led to its decline in more modern history. However the 1990s brought with it a revival fueled by one producer, Marcel Guigal, who believed in the zone’s potential. He, along with the critic, Robert Parker, are said to be responsible for the zone’s later 20th century renaissance.
Where the Rhone River turns, there is a build up of schist rock and a remarkable angle that produces slopes to maximize the rays of the sun. Cote Rotie remains one of the steepest in viticultural France. Its varied slopes have two designations. Some are dedicated as Côte Blonde and others as Côte Brune. Syrahs coming from Côte Blonde are lighter, more floral, and ready for earlier consumption—they can also include up to 20% of the highly scented Viognier. Those from Côte Brune are more sturdy, age-worthy and are typically nearly 100% Syrah. Either way, a Cote Rotie is going to have a particularly haunting and savory perfume, expressing a more feminine side of the northern Rhone.