2021 E. Guigal Brune et Blonde Cote-Rotie 750 ml

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.”

The most famous wines in the Guigal domaine are known as the Trésors, or “Treasures”: The small-production La Mouline, La Landonne, and La Turque bottlings from Côte-Rôtie are bucket-list wines, exquisite expressions of the Northern Rhône that are coveted by collectors and can cost more than a car payment. Fortunately, Brune et Blonde does not share the same price tag—but does share the same DNA.

Hailing from the same vertiginous slopes as the top wines from Guigal, Brune et Blonde’s name derives from the two most crucial terroirs in the Côte-Rôtie appellation. Both located on slopes near the village of Ampuis, the Côte Blonde (source of La Mouline) faces south, consists of sandy slate soils with a significant limestone component, and produces wines that are relatively soft and enjoyable early. The southwest-facing Côte Brune (source of La Turque and La Landonne), on the other hand, boasts dense soils of schist and heavy clay rich in iron, giving tighter, smokier, more age-demanding wines.

Grapes from the two terroirs—roughly 96% Syrah and a touch of Viognier for lift and aromatics—come together beautifully in Brune et Blonde, which is always approachable early yet capable of cellaring for a decade or more. Aged for 36 months in 50% new French oak—all of it produced on-site by Guigal’s own cooperage, a remarkable rarity—the 2021 delivers the unmistakable perfume and tension of northern Rhône Syrah.

This is one of our can’t-miss, never-pass-up reds.