2016 E. Guigal Gigondas 750 ml

It is nearly impossible for Guigal to astonish. That’s because, as the Rhône winery led by the man Robert Parker called “this planet’s greatest winemaker” has risen to become one of the most revered in the world, they’ve established off-the-charts excellence as their standard.

But in 2016, the Guigal family produced a bottle that left us, not to mention peerless Rhône critic Jeb Dunnuck, stunned. It wasn’t one of their celebrated “La-Las”—although every one of those $400+ collector-favorites earned between 96 and 98 points that vintage—but their 2016 Gigondas, a masterful bottle whose 95 points put it in the same critical stratosphere as those marquee reds.

We’re unabashed fans of just about everything Guigal does, and we think this is as impressive as anything they’ve produced in the Southern Rhône—including their Guigal-labeled Châteauneuf-du-Pape and their estate-grown Domaine de Nalys. “The finest effort I’ve tasted from this estate’s Gigondas,” is how Dunnuck started his 95-point review of the “drop-dead gorgeous” wine, which he believes will thrive for decades in the cellar.  

We can’t wait to see how this develops over three, five, ten years and more, although it’s impossible to resist now. Showing a gorgeous deep ruby color, it’s laden with lively raspberry and strawberry, garrigue, wild herbs, clove, and cedar. Muscular but elegant on the palate, it’s got tons of sun-drenched red and black fruit on the palate, with compelling notes of spice, wild herbs, and smoke over fine-grained tannins. 

This is an all-time great bottle that will showcase a historic Southern Rhône vintage for years to come. The way to make sure you’re on the journey every step of the way is to stock up on this benchmark wine right here and now.

Guigal doesn’t just stand at the top of the Rhône hierarchy: According to Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate, “There is no winemaker on planet Earth who has produced so many compelling wines, irrespective of vintage conditions, as Marcel Guigal.”  

We happen to know this wine has a glorious future ahead of it because of an unforgettable Guigal experience we had more than a decade ago, at Tom Colicchio’s Craft restaurant in Los Angeles. There were six of us, sharing a table so crowded with bottles that there was barely room for chef Matt Accarrino’s dry-aged NY strip, heritage rack of pork, and braised morels. 

Among the wines were a late-1990s Insignia, a 2002 Kosta Browne Pinot, a young Alter Ego of Palmer… and a 2000 Guigal Gigondas that a friend had cellared five years earlier and never touched. Going by the labels, the Gigondas was the humblest bottle there—but sipped along with the feast, it was the unquestioned star of the night. Smoky, spicy, and seamless, the seven-year-aged Gigondas was perfectly integrated, but still exuding Southern Rhône sunshine. 

That bottle stole the show from some pretty impressive competition, and now, four years past one of the greatest harvests ever in the Southern Rhône, Guigal’s 2016 Gigondas is giving off the very same charm. Grown on 40-year-old vines planted in the region’s trademark red clay and gravel, aged for two full years in 50% new French oak foudres crafted in-house, the Grenache-dominant blend is the perfect balance of ripe fruit, wild herbaceousness, and age-worthy structure.

An all-time great from one of the world’s greatest winemaking families, this is a rare opportunity that will pay dividends for years. Don’t miss it!