TN: 1996 Guigal Cote Rotie La Mouline and 1981 Petrus

1996 Guigal Cote Rotie La Mouline

Slightly underwhelming at first, this wine took about 15-20 minutes in the glass to really start to develop. According to RP the La Mouline contained about 17-18% of Viognier……I really didn’t pick up any Viognier characteristics in this wine as it was extremely deep with black fruits, especially blackberry. While this isn’t the greatest La La it is still a pleasure to drink…and it got progressively better throughout the evening. This wine doesn’t have a lot of acidity, which is perhaps its downfall in comparison to other La La’s……still a great wine in comparison to most out there. There are some secondary notes in this wine (earth,underbrush, etc….)…but nothing that is infringing on the fruit and structure that this wine provides.

1981 Petrus (375ml) - Corked


Thanks for sharing John.

How sad the '81 Pétrus was corked. I really wanted to read current notes on it. I think '81s of Pomerol are much better than many realize - they just got “shouted down” by all the hullabaloo of '82.

In any event, I had the '96 Guigal Côte Rôtie La Mouline on the 25th May 2009 at a blind dinner/tasting for 5 persons. My notes at the time are as follows:

Wine # 4 - Initially, this, like Wine # 2 (i.e., 1996 Chapoutier Ermitage La Pavillon), was reticent; giving off saline notes with lightly peppered dark fruit and a hint of cedar. More earthy in the mouth, it was quite similar to Wine # 2, but just slightly less yielding. I ranked this 3rd Place, and it turned out to be a 1996 Guigal Côte Rôtie La Mouline.

Interestingly, from the outset, J-Lab said his glass of this had a sweetly fruited bouquet. None of us others got that initially, but, at around 45 minutes to an hour later (after the meal proper, and with the cheese course) the Stockbroker and I noted that this wine had opened up incredibly, displaying a complex perfume of sweet violets, dark fruit, raspberry touch of kirsch, cedar and licorice. In the mouth, its fruit was very ripe and sweetish, rich and nicely latered.

Had we voted at this point, I would easily have ranked this 2nd place. The Stockbroker agreed.

Corked Petrus sucks.

How did ya know it was corked?

nice wines, too bad about the petrus

Having some issues with corked bottles lately! First '98 Ausone now this . . .

Thought the Guigal showed pretty well, especially with the food. More specific notes to follow.

Michael are you going to post you thoughts on Hendry?!

Yeah…similar to my notes on the David Bruce Pinot Noir… ( found here : TN: 2005 David Bruce Pinot Noir Central Coast - WINE TALK - WineBerserkers" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; )

Thankfully I have found a Napa Chardonnay that tastes like Meursault, a Zinfandel for Pinot lovers, and a Zinfandel for Cabernet Lovers…all in one night!

After being in barrel for 47 years this takes on all the “good” qualities of the oak!