We wanted to give a sense of where (and why) Guigal grows and buys fruit for its Crozes-Hermitage, so we created this little narrated tour on Google Earth.
Click on the picture below to spend a few minutes exploring the Northern Rhone Valley! You will need Google Earth to run the file, which takes about 10 seconds to download and install, here.
Philippe Guigal discusses the 2009 vintage and the vititculture and vinification of the Guigal Cotes du Rhone 2009. Filmed in the fall of 2011, at the time of the first Cotes du Rhone 2009 bottling.
In the video below you can see a November visit to Guigal and tasting of their just-now released Chateauneuf-du-Pape 2006. In the video Philippe Guigal discusses the wine, and also describes it in context of its two surrounding vintages, 2005 and 2007. The wine is seductively pure and precise, with lovely, detailed fruits and spice while offering tremendous pleasure and beautiful concentration.
Wine Spectator Rhône critic James Molesworth recently paid a visit to E. Guigal and tasted through recent vintages of Côte-Rôtie, St.-Joseph, Châteauneuf and more with Marcel and Philippe. Here is a quote from Molesworth’s recent blog post on the visit:
“Though Côte-Rôtie is the spiritual home for the Guigals, most impressive these days at chez Guigal are the efforts in St.-Joseph. Towering above the town of Tournon, and sprouting from the ruins on the slopes, are the Guigal’s Vignes de l’Hospice vineyards. The established parts are drawn from vines that came with the purchases of the de Vallouit and JL Grippat estates a decade ago, along with newer planting by the Guigals.”
“If you had told us 10 years ago that we would be as serious in St.-Joseph as Côte-Rôtie, I would have said ‘No way,’ said Philippe Guigal, as we scrambled up the steep slopes, where a team or workers is rebuilding the terraces that hold the vines in place. “When Grippat called us to say he was selling his estate, I remember my dad thought it would be better to go see him in person, rather than just decline over the phone. We really weren’t that interested. But Grippat was smart. We spent three hours—outside in the vineyards. We never saw the cellar. At the end of the three hours, the deal was done. We are now big believers in St.-Joseph.”
See below for a video link of Philippe Guigal tasting in his cellar in Ampuis.
Check out this fantastic video from Guigal that follows Marcel and Philippe for a year as they tend to the vineyards and craft their cuvées. The aerial shots of Côte-Rotie and St. Joseph are incredible; these are some of the steepest vineyards in the world, and the work that goes into cultivating them is intense. The film is in three parts, with the additional two below the jump.
Check out this fantastic documentary on Guigal and all of their work in the Rhône that aired recently on France 3. It’s in French, but large segments, particularly those looking at the global sales of the wines, are in English. The full video is here.
