The joy of well stored, aged wine never ceases to amaze!
1992 E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône - France, Rhône, Southern Rhône, Côtes du Rhône (11/16/2020)
A friend was cleaning out their basement, found this old bottle and gifted it to us because we are “wine people.” I was not expecting much [anything] from a 28-year old bottle of <$15 wine. The capsule was was beat up so I assumed the cork was shot. But, it turned out to be in good shape, and came out easily with a Durand. The wine far exceeded expectations. Somewhat muted nose, but with still nice fruit, very smooth tannins and mouthfeel, and pleasant tertiary flavors. All things considered, pretty amazing!
Posted from CellarTracker
I had a few bottles of this, but emptied all until 1998/99 - it wasn´t as good as the (fine) 1991 - and the next vintage I bought was 1995.
I am not here to say this was the best wine of all time by a long shot. But, just that I was quite pleasantly surprised given the age and the price-point (which means I am stereotyping ageability based on price…). A very nice find.
I’m not too surprised. The 1983 was absolutely gorgeous in 1999 (16 years) – much more than simply alive. I still have an '01 and an '03 I’ve held onto.
I guess your 1992 is a bit more of a surprise, though. Not only is it much older, but that wasn’t a great year in the Rhone, north or south.
This is a more serious wine than people give it credit for. In 1999 it was no more than 50% grenache, I believe, with the rest syrah and mourvedre. (Often it was evenly split.) The other grapes gave it the structure to last and evolve. Today it’s 50% syrah, 25% grenache, 25% mourvedre. I preferred the wine when there was more grenache, but the additional syrah probably ensures it’s just as long-lived.
Since 1992 was such a tough year, this could very well be Grenache from CdP or Gigondas, and Syrah from Crozes or St. Joseph.
Curious to see if Guigal has records of that.
I wondered about that, too. I believe they buy wine, not grapes, and blend it. It could be that their (no doubt many) suppliers had to use declassified grapes in a year like that to meet Guigal’s standards.
I don’t think Guigal ever discloses its sources. Here’s their page for it:
FYI, I was off a bit about the typical blend in recent vintages. It’s 45-50% syrah (usually 50%), 40-48% grenache (usually 40%) and 3-10% mourvedre, not 50/25/25.
Very interesting stuff, thank you!