E. Guigal
Côte-Rôtie Château d’Ampuis 2020
Côte-Rôtie
What a story. Etienne Guigal, working in the cellars of a local winery, is swimming in the Rhone river off the docks near the Château d’Ampuis. He meets a lovely girl, who works as a maid at the Château d’Ampuis, a historic property whose oldest sections date to the 11th century, where Kings of France have visited and slept, and symbol of the town of Ampuis and the world-renowned Côte-Rôtie vineyard area for ten centuries. In 1995, 7 years after Etienne passed away, his son Marcel Guigal purchased the Château, and spent 11 years restoring it, with over 100 people working on the project, all overseen by France’s Chief Architect of Historic Monuments.
Early on, when the Guigal family learned that there was at one time a wine produced with the Château d’Ampuis name, and they were able to trace the vineyards that were used in this original wine, they decided to produce an exceptional wine that would showcase the best that Côte-Rôtie has to offer.
Vineyard
Today Château d’Ampuis is made from 7 exceptional vineyards from both sides of Côte-Rôtie, the Côte Blonde and the Côte Brune, and vines averaging 50 years of age. These are exceptional vineyards, and in fact every vineyard is adjoining one of the three Guigal single vineyard crus, La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque.
The vineyards are in the Côte Blonde as follows: Le Clos, La Garde, and La Grande Plantée; and in the Côte Brune: La Pommière, Le Pavillon Rouge, Le Moulin and La Viria.
Winemaking
Ampuis is composed of 93% Syrah and 7% Viognier, and aged in the same manner as the Guigal single-vineyard crus, with a 4 week maceration and alcoholic fermentation followed by 38 months in new barrels that are all made at the estate.
Vintage
2019 is the latest in an unprecedented string of magnificent vintages in the Northern Rhône Valley, with extremely high quality in all appellations and at all levels. It stands out amongst a remarkable sequence of exceptional vintages here, a run that spans the years 2015 through 2020 (with the frost-shattered 2021 also likely to be superb, what there is of it), and the 2022 already promising to be excellent. Following the intense but also charming 2017s, and the forceful and forward 2018s, the 2019 reds are once again powerful wines with deep, healthy colors and pinpoint balance. Acidity levels and tannin content are both higher in this vintage than in the two prior, framing the 2019s as a hypothetical cross between the classic 2016s and the rich, forward 2018s. Yields were impacted by hail in some appellations, but outside of Crozes-Hermitage the damage was slight, and 2019 overall was a vintage of average size. The intensely concentrated fruit, framed by healthy acidity and deep, ripe tannins is perfectly suited to Guigal’s method of extended élèvage, and the 2019s should prove to be among the longest-lived vintages in recent memory.
Tasting Note
The hallmark of Château d’Ampuis is an unbelievably seductive perfume full of sweet black fruits and spices, and an elegance despite the intense concentration of fruit (prunes, blackberry) and tannin. Château d’Ampuis defines what a great Côte-Rôtie should be with its beautiful balance, muscular complexity and length. The 2018 is a wine from a tannic and muscular vintage due to the hot climate. Solid tannins, yet well rounded by long oak ageing.
Color
Red
Grape Varieties
Syrah, Viognier
Appellation
Côte-Rôtie
Farming
For nearly 4 decades Guigal has used only environmentally sustainable methods of pest, disease and weed control. They work to conserve biological diversity, water resources, soils and ecosystems on their land. Packaging materials are recyclable or biodegradable. Lastly, they are committed to achieving a zero waste target.
Alcohol
14.5%
Suggested Retail Price
$210
Reviews
Trade Materials
Other Wines by this Producer
Saint Joseph Vignes de l’Hospice
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Côte-Rôtie La Landonne
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One of the three “LaLa” wines that Guigal produces and are the most collectible wines of the Rhone Valley, La Landonne is a remarkable expression of terroir. And for good reason, La Landonne is situated on one of the steepest vineyards of the Côte Brune, a 45 degree slope that remarkably requires harvesters to start picking from the bottom of the vineyard and work their way up, placing grape bunches in bins that are set on sleds and dragged up the hill. Along with its position at the northern end of the Côte Brune and the fact it is the last vineyard to ripen, La Landonne is the mirror of the feminine and voluptuous La Mouline: it is a wine of driving power, defined by its dark fruit and structure. The first vintage Guigal produced was in 1978, after being planted in 1975 at the time of Philippe Guigal’s birth.
Côte-Rôtie La Turque
Côte-Rôtie
Of the three famous single-vineyard “LaLas” that Guigal produces and are the most collectible wines of the Rhone Valley, La Turque is the newest. This vineyard produced outstanding wines in the first half of the 20th century, but then was not used for wine production for nearly 50 years. The Guigals acquired the vineyard and re-planted it in 1980 and 1981, based on Etienne Guigal’s memory of the quality of the wines it once produced. The first vintage appeared in 1985. In both position and style, it sits between La Mouline and La Landonne: the complex soils lend an exotic character to La Turque, and its concentration and elegance exhibit the virility of the Côte Brune with the subtlety and femininity of the Côte Blonde.
Côte-Rôtie La Mouline
Côte-Rôtie
First planted by the Romans 2,500 years ago, La Mouline is the oldest and most famous vineyard of Cote-Rotie, and Guigal’s single vineyard bottling of La Mouline in the 1960s set off a quality revolution throughout the Rhone Valley. The stunning amphitheater is the most complex plot in Cote-Rotie due to its extremely steep slopes with expositions in every direction. Of the three famous “LaLas” that Guigal produces and are the most collectible wines of the Rhone Valley, La Mouline was the first and is the only one on the Cote Blonde, and its signature is an unbelievable exoticism, an irresistibly and unique lifted floral, black fruit, earthy, spicy perfume, its coiled power always in balance, seemingly endless.
Ermitage Ex Voto Rouge
Hermitage
Ermitage Ex-Voto represents the fulfillment of a longtime dream of Marcel Guigal’s to own vineyard land on the hill of Hermitage. Through the purchase of the de Vallouit and J. L. Grippat domaines in 2000, Guigal acquired four exceptional vineyard parcels on this legendary site. The 2001 vintage was the first release of this estate-bottled Hermitage red and white. The quality of the intense old-vine fruit is quite special, but given the Guigal’s already strong work in Hermitage, they decided to only release an Ex-Voto red or white when the wine is utterly exceptional and clearly superior to their appellation bottlings.
Ermitage Ex Voto Blanc
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Ermitage Ex-Voto represents the fulfillment of a longtime dream of Marcel Guigal’s to own vineyard land on the hill of Hermitage. Through the purchase of the de Vallouit and J. L. Grippat domaines in 2000, Guigal acquired four exceptional vineyard parcels on this legendary site. The 2001 vintage was the first release of this estate-bottled Hermitage red and white. The quality of the intense old-vine fruit is quite special, but given the Guigal’s already strong work in Hermitage, they decided to only release an Ex-Voto red or white when the wine is utterly exceptional and clearly superior to their appellation bottlings.
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Guigal produces an intensely concentrated, inviting and complex Châteauneuf-du-Pape that is almost unique to the region today. Their passion for Châteauneuf, the leading appellation of the Southern Rhône, runs as deeply as that for their home sites in the Northern Rhône. The combination of working with top fruit that has perfect ripeness, along with their extraordinary patience in the cellar, results in rich and full, yet savory, spicy, seamless and balanced wines. Wines to enjoy immediately but capable of aging, and, above all, wines that leave you wanting more.
Hermitage Blanc
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Whites make up a small percentage of production in the Rhône, under 2%, but white wines are a little bit of a secret specialty at Guigal and today comprise 25% of their production. And for good reason, as the whites of the Northern Rhône are true discovery wines, immensely appealing and complex. They specifically display an expressiveness and brightness while also capturing the warmth of the area. Even more of a discovery is Hermitage Blanc, one of the least-known yet most intriguing wines of the Rhône Valley and in the small 309 acre Hermitage AOC.
Hermitage
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Hermitage is one of France’s most spectacular and famous appellations, producing small quantities of extraordinarily intense and ageworthy red wine and tiny amounts of dry white. The entire vineyard consists of 309 acres planted on a single granite hillside on the banks of the Rhône. The Hermitage Rouge is the example of a racy wine, that manages to remain seductive.
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