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E.Guigal
— Great Rhône Valley Wines —
E. Guigal
- Vallée du Rhône -
Maison Guigal is located in Ampuis, a small ancient village and the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation. It is a huge 215-hectare estate on the most prestigious terroirs of the Rhône Valley. With its head office located at the Château d'Ampuis, the house owns the appellations of Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu, Hermitage, Saint-Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage. Among the largest family-run houses in the Rhone Valley, E. Guigal now markets the most renowned wines of the Rhone Valley.
The
Technical sheet
OWNERS: Marcel and Philippe Guigal
MANAGING DIRECTOR & OENOLOGIST : Philippe Guigal
APPELLATION : Côtes-Rôtie
OTHER APPELLATIONS : Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Condrieu, Côtes-du-rhône, Crozes-Hermitage, Gigondas, Hermitage, Saint-joseph, Tavel
MAIN GRAPE VARIETIES : Syrah
OTHER GRADES : Viognier, Marsanne, Rousanne, Grenache
AVERAGE AGE OF THE VINEYARD : 30-40 years
VINEYARD AREA: 215 hectares
SOIL TYPE: Schistose, silico-limestone
VINEYARD MANAGEMENT: HVE "High Environmental Value" certification
HARVESTING : Manual
VINIFICATION : Thermo-regulated stainless steel vats
MATURING : New oak barrels, stainless steel vats and tuns
a bit of
history
It all began in 1924, when Etienne Guigal arrived at the age of 14 in Ampuis, a small ancient village and the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation, where he founded the Maison E. Guigal in 1946. In 1961, he was joined by his son, Marcel Guigal, who took over the management of the company at his side. His wife Bernadette joined him in 1973 and they both worked to develop the family business. It is then Philippe, son of Marcel and Bernadette accompanied by his wife Eve, representing the third generation of the family, who perpetuates the work of the Guigal family to continue to make the house thrive.
Since 1946, hard work and perseverance have gradually allowed Maison E. Guigal to be built up and expanded. Beginning of the 1980s, the company bought the Vidal-Fleury winery, the oldest in the Rhone Valley, located in the heart of the Côte-Rôtie vineyards. In 1995, E. Guigal acquired Château d'Ampuis, an historic site on the banks of the Rhône, also located in the Côte-Rôtie appellation. The company continued to grow in 2001 with the acquisition of the former Jean-Louis Grippat estate and Domaine Vallouit, which allowed Maison E. Guigal to consolidate its position in the Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, Saint-Joseph and Crozes-Hermitage appellations. In 2006, the family acquired the Bonserine estate, which remained independent of the Guigal estates. Finally, 2017 marked an important step for the House of Guigal, which established itself in the Southern Rhône Valley with the purchase of Château de Nalys in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. This became the family's southern pride and joy.
Today, the house of Guigal, which had only a few square meters of cellars, has 3 hectares of cellars and galleries where exceptional wines are produced.
the
property
It is in the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation, south of Lyon, in Ampuis, that Maison Guigal works with passion and perseverance on the greatest appellations of the Rhône. The estate is composed of many exceptional vineyards in the most prestigious appellations: Côte-Rôtie, Condrieu, Hermitage, Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Saint-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage, these parcels give birth to fabulous wines highlighting the excellence of this winery, making Maison E. Guigal a diversified and emblematic estate of the Rhone Valley.
Côtes-Rôties
Planted on steep slopes on narrow terraces, the vineyard is divided between Côte Brune upstream and Côte Blonde downstream. Composed almost exclusively of Syrah, the Côte Brune gives powerful and intense wines thanks to its iron-rich micaschist soil. For Côte Blonde, the soil is composed of gneiss and clayey sands which allow to assert a great subtlety by the presence of Viognier, sublimating the Syrah.
Condrieux
Vineyard with steep terraces overhanging the Rhone, this appellation has the particularity of producing only white wines. The grape variety is entirely made up of Viognier, which is perfectly suited to the gneiss terroirs implanted on granitic slopes, which are conducive to its most complex expression. It gives birth to a unique white wine with a golden yellow color and intense aromas.
Saint-Joseph
Very appreciated by the kings of France in the 14th century, the Saint-Joseph was renowned by the Jesuits of Tournon. It is made from Syrah for the red and Marsanne and Roussanne for the white. On light granitic, schist and gneiss soils, it is exposed to the south/southeast in order to produce tasty and delicate wines.
Hermitage
Prestigious appellation, this vineyard has the particularity of being on the left bank of the Rhône. It offers a great richness of terroirs, granitic arenas, sandy soils and stony grounds. Made from Syrah for the red and Marsanne and Roussanne for the white, it offers a rich and massive wine with strong aromatic persistence.
Crozes-Hermitage
Prestigious appellation, this vineyard has the particularity of being on the left bank of the Rhône. It offers a great wealth of terroirs, granitic arena, sandy soil and stony land. Made from Syrah for the red and Marsanne and Roussanne for the white, it offers a rich and massive wine with strong aromatic persistence.
Châteauneuf-du-Pape
This exceptional terroir is located on the left bank of the Rhône River and is the pride of the Southern Rhône Valley's wine-growing heritage. The soil is covered with rolled limestone pebbles, swept by the Mistral wind and reddened by the Provence sun, offering inimitable wines with a southern flavor. Made from a blend of thirteen grape varieties of the appellation, it is dominated by Grenache offering complex wines with rounded and powerful tannins.
the
artisanal cooperage
Determined to improve its knowledge in wine maturation, the E. Guigal house started cooperage in 2003. Located in the 15th and 17th century buildings of the Château d'Ampuis, the traditional barrels destined for the maturing of the house's great wines are shaped, assembled and heated there.
Each year, about 800 new barrels are made to meet the demands of the estate. The wines of the house are thus aged in barrels of high-grade oak and fine grain, from the largest forests in France. The artisanal and ancestral gestures ensure an additional technical mastery to the domain. It is this traditional know-how that gives a unique status to the Maison Guigal, whose great wines can wait in these barrels for nearly three and a half years before being bottled.
from the vineyards
to the bottle
Maison E. Guigal attaches great importance to the respect of the environment and therefore practices a reasoned viticulture. Throughout the year, Maison E. Guigal teams maintain, shape the terraces and prune the vines with care without adding pesticides. It is thanks to a viticulture that listens to nature that E. Guigal gives birth to great wines. Moreover, the domain has a High Environmental Value level III certification which rewards the domains encouraging biodiversity and soil preservation.
From the vineyard to the cellar, the winemaking process requires a perfect and meticulous control of each step in order to elaborate a wine of excellence. Combining traditional techniques with modern winemaking tools, the grape varieties fully express their character and the uniqueness of the terroirs from which they come. It is in the cool, dark cellars of the Maison E. Guigal that the oak barrels mature their contents year after year, ensuring consistency and perfection, allowing the wine to evolve and improve under the daily vigilance of the teams.
It is in the heart of the historic cellars of the domain, in the family tasting room, that father and son elaborate day after day the wines of Maison Guigal. Long months of tasting are required where each nuance is studied to finally see the excellence of the wines expressed. This know-how and this natural alchemy are one of the house's prides today, vintage after vintage.
The
cuvées of maison guigal
Owner of many exceptional plots of land, Maison Guigal offers three different ranges of wines. First of all, "Les Trésors", great parcel-based vintages of the Maison Guigal with wines embodying the inspiration and heritage of centuries of wine-making know-how. In Côte-Rôtie, we find the famous "Château d'Ampuis" made from seven of the estate's most exceptional vines. A blend of Syrah and Viognier, it is a wine with an elegant nobility offering a good potential for aging. Still in Côte-Rôtie, we also find the famous wines "La Mouline", "La Turque" and "La Landonne", which are exceptional parcel wines belonging to the elite of the great Rhône wines. In addition, in the Condrieu appellation, "La Doriane" and "Luminescence" are added. In the Ermitage appellation, the "Ex-Voto" vintages are available in red and white. And finally in Saint Joseph, "Vignes de l'Hospice" and "Lieu-Dit" also available in red and white.
The E. Guigal Collection is a true reference in the great Rhone Valley appellations. It gathers the choice of a careful breeding, a meticulous work then of assembly carried out by Marcel and Philippe Guigal. It is made up of the Septentrional Rhône range with the "Côte-Rôtie Brune & Blonde" vintage of Guigal as well as the "Hermitage", "Saint-Joseph" and "Crozes-Hermitage" cuvées available in red and white. Guigal also offers a range of wines for lovers of the Southern Rhône Valley with its "Châteauneuf-du-Pape" available in red and white, its "Gigondas" red, its "Tavel" rosé and finally its "Côtes du Rhône" available in red, white and rosé.