Opened and decanted for sediment and then right into the glass. Deep dark purple with bricking at the rim. Nose of plum, pepper and earth, taste was added dark berries, with plum and some light licorice, balanced. Bottle drunk over three plus hours, little development but a very good bottle that I am guessing is about as good as it will get. Have enjoyed a few beginning when the case was bought in 2003 and about one every two years since. I would guess it has a couple more years like this but will not improve. Enjoyable.
I had one of these around the time you bought it and didn’t think it would improve much then. It’s okay as a syrah, but not necessarily as a Cote Rotie.
I can’t quite tell, John – it sounds like you were a little underwhelmed.
That was my reaction when I opened one a year and a half ago. I posted on it then:
1999 Guigal Cote Rotie – “Brune et Blonde de Guigal” (bought on release and kept in temperature controlled storage). Prior bottles of this had disappointed. I suspected that might have been due in part to inadequate decanting, so I decanted this about four hours ahead. It’s sound and fresh, with lots of fruit and good acid and some tannin. Sadly, it had very little syrah, let alone Cote Rotie, character. A very nice wine, but a bit generic. Nothing like the complexity or elegance of Guigal B&Bs from earlier decades. I’d give it 87 or 88. [It] held up amazingly well in the decanter and glass, even on the warm day.
Those Guigal’s from the '80s were great! Remember excellent Cote Rotie from 1985 and Hermitage from 1983.
Yup the 85 was blinding value for money, the last time I drank one in 2008 and it was humming
John - I did expected more, hoped for some interesting secondary favors, but as noted still good. Best, John
I had 3 during their first decade of life, all bought on release, and was a little underwhelmed by them. I liked the 99 Guigal negociant CNDP better!
I opened one of these 2 weeks ago, and could not be bothered to drink more than a half glass. The rest was used in stew and a sauce reduction.
I have a couple of '99 Château d’Ampuis; I sure hope these show better than these reports on the BeB!
Cheers,
Warren
Yes, and I´ll add 1983 Cote Rotie … I´ll still have some, and they are still fine.
From 1995 onwards the Chateau d´Ampuis part (6 lieu-dits) are bottled seperately … and are missing in the regular Cote Rotie afterwards … a fact which imho can be tasted …
The 98 is still going strong.
Bottles vary. The one I had night before last was drinkable, but pretty tired.
Yes, those 83 and 85 C-R B-et-B were good, especially for the very resonable pricing that they can be had up until 6 years ago. I also enjoyed the 95 Ampuis, but not so much the ones after that.
1988 was excellent too.
I also recall good experiences with the '83, '85 and '88, but my understanding is that in those years, the Brune et Blonde benefited from (a) Guigal incorporating the fruit of smaller growers who then, in later vintages, bottled on their own, and (b) less of use of new oak. Am I wrong in thinking that the BeB in later vintages, including the '99, were vastly inferior in quality and completely different in style?
Asher - the thread I linked to above in post #3 discusses the deterioration in the late 80s. In addition to more growers bottling their own, Guigal created the Cotes d’Ampuis bottling, and used a lot of the best juice for that.
I don’t know if it is a factor, but there was huge expansion of plantings and production in Cote Rotie beginning in the 1980s, some of it on the plateau above the slopes. At the least, there may have been more young vines for some time in there.
I don’t think the oak treatment has changed. I think the B&B always saw ~30 months in barriques. (FYI, when I visited 20 years or so ago, Philipe Guigal said that the oak was actually less apparent after a certain time in barriques, and that seemed to borne out by barrel samples for several vintages.)
I know it’s not from the 1980s, but I had numerous fine experiences with the 1995. That was the last one that stood out at all for me.