I took a flier on this during last week’s private collection sale at Chambers. I knew the '80 vintage was average to weak globally, but this was the first birth year wine I’ve actually had a chance to taste and I suppose curiosity got the best of me.
Boy did I get lucky! Pop and pour and this beast of a wine is alive and kicking with the first waft. Classic bacon fat, lilac, and massive strawberry aromas pour out of the glass. On the palate are notes of cherry, coffee, olive tapenade. Very much a balance of savory and fruit with resolved tannins. What surprises me the most is how much acidity is still active in this 38 year old entry wine of Guigal’s. There is very little sediment collected in the bottle. This seems like this bottle was perfectly stored. I think this wine had several more years left in the tank, but what a privilege to experience mature Côte-Rôtie now. Drink up or hold if you find any bottles out there. Happy Thanksgiving all! (95 points)
I likely may have missed out on spotting this one from the email, otherwise I might have bit on it. Guigal’s B et B from the decade of the 80s have generally been wonderful experiences for me.
This wine is really good, really typical and still strong - despite the rather mean vintage.
I had it in spring (bought 4 for a song) … and still have 2 …
Yes, 1985, 1988,1990 and especially 1983 (!) and 1991 are still very fine.
The quality dropped from 1995 onwards due to introduction of the Chtaeau d´Ampuis.
About a month ago I purchased a nice parcel of '78, '85, and '91.
The prices were very good and the bottles looked to have just been released from Guigal’s cellars.
I have my 2nd-to-last 1991 that I plan to open by year end and hoping that it shows all the old-school traits that I had with last year’s bottle from the same purchased lot. Older vintages are harder to find these days and am not exited about buying/keeping newer vintages.
About 12 years ago I purchased a large parcel of Guigals which included 25-30 ocb cases of Brune et Blonde from the 60’s and 70’s. Most of them were really good and some, especially from the 60’s, were spectacular.
I generally find Guigal uses too much oak for me, but pre-1990 this seems less of an issue, so I pick those up when I see them. In particular, I think older Guigal Hermitage (to move the thread a bit) holds up quite well.
You will hardly notice any new oak when the wines are really mature …
Nothing oaky for instance in the 1987 La Mouline I had in September … (BTW great wine)
While I also found Guigal’s La La wines to be generally high in oak, differentiation with Brune et Blonde must be made as I never found this to be at same high level of oak as the few La La bottles that I’ve had. Especially those B-et-B from the 80’s and up to 1991 which I think are quite special, relative to the La Las, Brune et Blonde spent lesser number of months in oak aging and uses 50% used barrels. Apparently, and relatively, the La Las are always aged in 100% new barrels where they spend more months.
Just to add, d’Ampuis label is similar to La Las in terms of oak treatment.