2017 E. Guigal Chateau D’ Ampuis Côte-Rôtie 750 ml

There are the top Rhône producers, and then there’s Guigal. Led by the man Robert Parker called “this planet’s greatest winemaker,” father-and-son team Marcel and Philippe Guigal craft what the Wine Advocate simply calls “some of the greatest wines in the world.” 

Guigal classifies four wines as their “Treasures”: the single-vineyard La Landonne, La Mouline, and La Turque Côte-Rôties (the famed “La Las”) and the Château d’Ampuis cuvée. The La-Las are as celebrated as any wines in the world‚ and priced and scored accordingly, commanding well over $300 and achieving near-perfect scores. That’s precisely why wise collectors stalk the lesser-known, hard-to-find, rich, opulent Château d’Ampuis bottling. 

Hailing from 50-year-old vines on seven of the choicest plots on the Guigal domaine, aged for a stunning 38 months in new oak, the 2017 Château d’Ampuis Côte-Rôtie packs the same high-scoring muscle, elegance, complexity, and collectibility embodied by the La Las. 

The price, however, resides in another zip code altogether. Hailing from the phenomenal 2017 vintage in the Northern Rhône, we’ve got this Château d’Ampuis for a song.

This is a bottle to cellar and open with the biggest prizes in your collection, be they La Las from years past, Bordeaux First Growths, or Grand Cru Burgundies. It’s a wine we’re always on the lookout for when it hits US shores, but we haven’t had the chance to offer it to our members for three vintages. Today, we’ve got just 15 cases of the 2017. Given the pent-up demand and the value this wine brings to any cellar, those bottles won’t last long. 

The Côte-Rotie Château d’Ampuis is deeply intertwined with Guigal’s family history. Etienne, Marcel’s father and the winery’s founder, was swimming in the Rhône River as a youth when he encountered a young woman who was a maid in the nearby Château d’Ampuis—a historic vineyard and property where French royalty had once stayed. Long after Etienne had passed away, Marcel took over Château d’Ampuis and spent 11 years restoring the property to its former glory. In the process, he discovered the plots that had once been used to craft the estate’s legendary Côte-Rôtie. Marcel set out to recreate that wine, and ended up fashioning a new classic that captures the same beauty of the terroir as the La-Las at a fraction of the price.

Each of the seven renowned plots in today’s bottle adjoins one of Guigal’s famous single-vineyard crus. The 2017 is already showing off that incredible pedigree. It’s got powerful aromas of blackberry, loganberry, dried violets, rose petals, peppercorns, smoke, clove, and baked earth, and immediately coats the palate with velvety tannins and a rounded, supple texture. Brawny but balanced, with touches of cocoa, garrigue, and pepper, it’s got a finish that goes on and on, showing gorgeous character now but calling out for a decade-plus in the cellar. 

Open one of these coveted bottles today for its youthful, opulent black fruit, or lay it down and wait for the fireworks. Either way, don’t miss the chance to add this incredible wine to your collection.