2015 E. Guigal Crozes-Hermitage 750 ml

“This Planet’s Greatest Winemaker”

Robert M. Parker Jr. calls Marcel Guigal “this planet’s greatest winemaker” and this opulent Crozes-Hermitage is your under-$30 ticket to understanding why critics have gone absolutely bonkers for Northern Rhône’s 2015 vintage. Hailed by Marcel Guigal as the region’s greatest in 55 years, the growing season birthed a bevy of timeless beauties that collectors are paying top dollar for. By our lights, for the price, this inky Syrah from rugged hillside vineyards is almost impossible to best. “There is no winemaker on planet Earth who has produced so many compelling wines, irrespective of vintage conditions, as Marcel Guigal,” says Robert Parker. If you want to know what he has done with one of history’s greatest growing seasons: hit “buy” now. 92 points from Jeb Dunnuck who praised the “terrific purity” of this 2015 E. Guigal Crozes-Hermitage. A sizzling $25 while our supply holds out.

Marcel Guigal’s supernaturally good single-vineyard “La-Las” — “La Landonne,” “La Mouline,” and “La Turque” — have garnered 22 perfect 100-point reviews from Parker since 1990. To put that achievement in perspective, that’s more than Châteaux Petrus, Lafite-Rothschild, Haut-Brion, Mouton-Rothschild, and Margaux — combined!

As you might imagine, Marcel Guigal’s “La-Las” are devilishly hard to come by. Importer allocations are quoted by the bottle, not by the case. If you can locate a single bottle of “La Turque,” “La Mouline,” or “La Landonne” from one of the recognized classic vintages, plan to break out your Platinum card. A bottle can easily set you back $500+.

For those of us who are on a budget and simply can’t bring ourselves to drop five bills on a single bottle of “La-La,” there’s still hope. Each year, Guigal crafts one of the greatest bargains in the Rhône Valley off the rugged soils of Crozes-Hermitage. This 2015 ranks among the finest Crozes we’ve ever tasted from one of the wine world’s greatest names.

Marcel has publicly declared that “2015 is on the level of 1929, 1947, 1961, adding, “It is surely the vintage of a lifetime. In 55 years, I’ve never seen anything like it.” If that doesn’t get you out of your seat, we don’t know what will. It was an assessment roundly echoed by fellow winemakers and by critics including Jancis Robinson, who advised: “If you have any enthusiasm at all for red Rhône, 2015 is a vintage not to be missed.”

The wine hails from low-yield, hillside vineyards in the Northern Rhône Cru of Crozes-Hermitage, where Syrah grapes benefited from abundant winter rains. That precipitation created a water table that replenished berries with moisture and nutrients through a picture-perfect sunny dry season. “A rich, beautifully concentrated, full-bodied Crozes,” says Jeb Dunnuck. Move now to snap up this incredible value from one of Northern Rhône’s finest estates and vintages.