Top Collectible Wines

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One of the all-time great La Moulines, this still youthful and unevolved wine does not have the tannic ferocity of the 1988, or the sheer force and intensity of the 1978, 1976, and 1969, but it represents the epitome of this single-vineyard wine. Everything fits perfectly in this full-bodied, black/purple-colored wine that reveals no garnet or amber at the edge of its color. The nose offers up a formidable array of overripe black raspberries and cherries intertwined with scents of cedar, chocolate, olives, and toast. Extremely full-bodied, with an unctuosity and opulence that must be tasted to be believed, this velvety-textured wine’s finish lasts for over a minute. It is one of the most concentrated but profoundly endowed and well-balanced wines I have ever tasted. Like so many of the wines Guigal has produced from this vineyard, no matter how hard one tries to articulate its glories, words are simply inadequate. The 1985 is just beginning to achieve full maturity, where it should remain for another 15 + years. Anticipated maturity: now-2012. Last tasted 8/96.Robert Parker | 100 RPA collection of stunning older northern Rhônes puts a strong exclamation point on this night of fabulous food, wine and conversation. The 1985 Côte-Rôtie La Mouline has far better balance. One of the wines of the night, the Mouline is dark, sensual and breathtakingly beautiful. Layers of dark fruit intermingled with scents of tobacco, licorice, plum, black cherry and incense blossom into the voluptuous, exotic finish. At thirty years of age, the 1985 is a real stunner.Antonio Galloni | 97 AGVivid, concentrated and complete, this gorgeous wine is rich with kirsch, floral, vanilla and raspberry flavors that go on forever. Lovely now, but better after 2000.--Guigal Côte-Rôtie vertical. Wine Spectator | 97 WS(Côte-Rôtie “la Mouline”- Domaine Guigal) I can vividly recall just how beautiful the 1985 La Mouline was from Marcel Guigal back in the decade of the 1990s, when there were few other wines from the vintage that could match its sheer beauty and extravagant personality. However, at age thirty-one, the new oak in this wine is starting to poke out a bit more than was the case back in its prime, and the wine is not quite the seamless beauty it was of yesteryear. It is still a lovely bottle, but it has come back to the pack a bit, offering up a deep and complex nose of black raspberries, cassis, grilled meats, nutskin, coffee, a lovely base of soil and plenty of cedary wood. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied, complex and still in its plateau of maturity, with melted tannins and a long, classy finish. I would be happy to drink this wine anytime, but I remember when it was just a bit closer to perfection than it is today. (Drink between 2016-2035)John Gilman | 94 JG

Deep purple-colored, with grilled meat and smoky, barbecue-like aromas beginning to emerge, along with lavishly ripe scents of black plums and cassis, the 1988 La Turque is not quite as suppressed aromatically as La Mouline. This thick, unctuously textured, full-bodied, monster wine is close to reaching its plateau of drinkability. The wine exhibits awesome concentration, terrific purity, and, amazingly, no evidence of the 42 months it spent in 100% new oak casks. Very full and rich, and potentially the longest-lived La Turque yet made, this wine should be legendary. Anticipated maturity: 2000-2015. Last tasted 7/96.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe nose on the 1988 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque couldn’t get any better and is dark, dense and just packed with earthy dark fruit, meat, smoke and bacon notes. There’s subtle graphite and integrated wood notes lurking in the background and I could smell this wine all night. The palate is full bodied with perfect balance, silky texture, considerable structure and a fantastic, long finish.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JD(Guigal Côte-Rôtie “La Turque”) Between 1985 and 1991, the single vineyard bottlings of Guigal Côte-Rôties have to be among the most consistently fine wines made in all of France. Not only were they superb in the big vintages like 1985, 1988, and 1991, but even the 1986s and 1987s were outstanding wines. I have not kept up on the wines since the mid-1990s, but long-time Rhône fans whose palates I trust tell me that the magic has been lost. But there was still plenty of magic back when the 1988 La Turque was bottled, and this is a really lovely wine for such a young vine cuvée. The nose is deep and beautifully complex, offering up a blend of pepper, red berries, salami, hot stones, coffee, cloves and exotic wood-derived spices. On the palate the wine is full-bodied and wonderfully complex, with great focus and detail, solid depth at the core, and good length on the modestly tannic finish. If I were to knit-pick a bit about this wine, it is only that the wood sticks out ever so slightly on the finish. It would have been nice for Monsieur Guigal, knowing that this was still young vines in 1988, to have backed off the new oak at least for the La Turque, as the wine would have been even better for it. But that said, this is still a superb bottle of wine. (Drink between 2006-2020).John Gilman | 95 JGExotic floral and spice notes add interest to the vanilla and plum flavors; the wine is vivid and rich but the dominant flavor is oak. Try in 1997.--Guigal Côte-Rôtie vertical. 700 cases made.Wine Spectator | 92 WS

Another perfect wine is the 2009 Cote Rotie La Turque. It possesses a slightly denser purple color than the opaque Cote Rotie La Mouline as well as notes of Asian spices, roasted meats, bouquet garni, spring flowers, camphor and truffles. It is a different expression of Syrah as this comes from the more iron-laden soils of the Cote Brune. Although never as aromatic, precocious or enjoyable as La Mouline is in its youth, La Turque is, nevertheless, a remarkably concentrated, profound wine that is built like a skyscraper. It possesses a level of intensity and richness that must be tasted to be believed. Despite the flamboyant personality of the vintage, the 2009 will require 4-5 years of cellaring and should age effortlessly for 25-30 years.Robert Parker | 100 RPPossibly my favorite vintage ever for the Northern Rhône (2010 and 2015 are both in the running), the 2009 Côte Rôtie La Turque is a mammoth of wine that offers everything you could want. Deep purple/plum-hued, this full-bodied, thick, opulent Côte Rôtie offers loads of sweet tannins, a deep, layered mid-palate, and straight-up heavenly notes of smoked meats, Asian spices, bacon fat, espresso roast, and loads of sweet, perfectly ripe black fruits. It’s much more opulent and sexy than the more classically built 2010 (and 2005 and 2015) and if this doesn’t put a smile on your face, I don’t know what will. It’s going to shine for another 2-3 decades.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDA pure, unadulterated raspberry confiture aroma and flavor is the dominant note today in this deep and expressive red, with extra singed anise, alder, juniper and black currant notes filling in the background, followed by a very dense yet supremely polished finish. Features the weight and density of this fleshy vintage, but the fruit is so inviting this is almost approachable now. Better to wait though. Best from 2015 through 2035. 400 cases made.Wine Spectator | 98 WSDark purple. Sexy, expansive aromas of boysenberry, violet and incense, with a bright mineral quality adding lift. Offers an array of ripe, luscious black and blue fruit and floral flavors that become spicier with air. Sappy, broad and sweet on the gently tannic finish, which shows superb clarity and persistence.Vinous Media | 95 VM

The 1999 Cote Rotie La Turque reveals notes of toasty vanilla and espresso in addition to Asian spices, mocha, pepper, blackberries, creosote, and roasted meats. The exotic perfume is followed by a wine with phenomenal intensity, sweet, well-integrated tannin, huge body, and loads of concentrated fruit. It is a tour de force in winemaking. Anticipated maturity: 2006-2025.What is so remarkable about this cuvee is its tremendous layers of flavor, awesome texture, and perfect balance. This is an astonishing offering from one of the world’s greatest winemakers.Robert Parker | 100 RPOffers terrific purity and density, with amazingly lush, creamy texture and waves of still very youthful blackberry and fig compote, mocha, black tea, sweet ganache and graphite. Seamless through the superlong finish, the combination of power and precision is rather amazing. Contains 7 percent Viognier.--1999 Côte-Rôtie non-blind retrospective. Drink now through 2030. 400 cases made.Wine Spectator | 99 WSFull bright ruby. Nose boasts great aromatic lift and urgency, with the classic griotte cherry of La Turque plus bitter chocolate and licorice. Less complex in the mouth today than La Mouline but precise, pure and extremely primary (especially given the fact that it’s been in barrel for a solid three years). Best today on the palate-staining finish. This is scheduled to be bottled in January of 2003 but probably could support even longer elevage.Vinous Media | 96+ VM

A wine that's certainly not for those seeking instant gratification, the 2010 Cote Rotie la Landonne is a powerhouse Cote Rotie that offers up deep, masculine notes of crushed rocks, smoked meats, game, espresso and assorted dark cassis and currant-like fruit. Full-bodied, tight, structured and backward, with fabulous mid-palate density and length, it needs to be forgotten in the cellar for a decade, but will have 40-50 years of overall longevity.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 100 RPCellar Selection* Dense and rich but also incredibly complex, long and elegant, this is a momumental Côte-Rôtie. It’s darkly fruited and superripe, yet doesn’t lose its essential sense of terroir, remaining marked by scents of pepper and espresso to go with the chocolate and cassis fruit. Velvety in texture, this is the one of Guigal’s 2003 Côte-Rôties that demands a few years of cellaring.Wine Enthusiast | 99 WETerrifically dense, with tightly coiled flavors of warm ganache, fig paste and blackberry confiture. Shows plenty of range as well, with well-embedded notes of bay leaf, chestnut, juniper, black tea and charcoal. This is intensely grippy through the lengthy, fine-grained finish. Should age marvelously and slowly. Best from 2017 through 2040. 600 cases made, 160 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 99 WSDark purple. A heady, explosively perfumed bouquet displays scents of ripe blueberry, cherry-cola, incense and smoked meat, with an intense spicy quality adding lift. Stains the palate with potent dark fruit liqueur and candied violet flavors that are sharpened and lifted by juicy acidity. Youthfully firm tannins build through a finish that strongly repeats the blue fruit and floral qualities. This one is built for the ages.Vinous Media | 97 VM

A perfect wine in every way, the 2015 Côte Rôtie La Turque comes from an incredible terroir on the Côte Brune and includes 7% Viognier. Stylistically, it normally fits between the more ripe, exuberant La Mouline and the more austere, tannic La Landonne. A deep purple color is followed by extraordinary notes of spring flowers, crushed violets, vanilla bean, and cured meats. This gives way to a full-bodied Côte Rôtie that has a stacked mid-palate, lots of ripe, silky tannins, no hard edges, and a finish that won’t quit. Syrah, or red wine for that matter, doesn’t get any better! Hats off to the Guigal family for another magical wine. Give bottles 6-7 years of bottle age and enjoy over the following 30 years or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDLike the La Mouline, the 2015 Cote Rotie La Turque comes across as slightly closed—I wouldn’t be surprised to see it inch up to a perfect rating in a decade or so. Lashings of ground spices—pepper, allspice, cardamom—are sprinkled over mixed berries, but this full-bodied wine is locked up tight, finishing with firm tannins. Give it at least 5-6 years, maybe even a decade or so, before pulling a cork.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 99 RPDark plum, boysenberry and fig fruit is steeped with notes of anise, black tea, ganache and roasted apple wood. A warm cast iron spine drives the finish, pulling all the components together along the way. Delivers serious cut and drive, holding a deep well of fruit in reserve. Best from 2025 through 2045. 88 cases imported.Wine Spectator | 99 WSThe personality of this wine is in full, flamboyant flight in 2015 with such expressive aromas of fragrant spices, roses and violet flowers, orange zest, white pepper, dark stones, exotic baking spices and beautifully ripe blackberries, blood plums and some redder fruit notes. The palate delivers plenty of energy and depth with ripe, dark and juicy tannins, wrapped around a very rich, intense and fleshy blackberry core. Impressive and still just a baby. Try from 2026.James Suckling | 98 JSSaturated purple. Hugely perfumed aromas of dark berry preserves, incense, potpourri, smoky bacon and spicecake. Cola, olive and cracked pepper flourishes build with air. Youthfully and broad in the mouth, offering deeply concentrated, sharply defined black/blue fruit, spicecake, vanilla and violet pastille flavors that are brightened by a smoky mineral accent. Chewy and appealingly sweet on the extremely long, floral-dominated finish framed by youthful, slow-building tannins.Vinous Media | 97 VMA darker, deeper, slightly more meaty style compared to La Mouline, the oak here more powerfully evident. Very grippy, very tight tannins. The alcohol feels a little raised, but generally there is a good balance between darks fruits, acidity and tannin, and the wine has great freshness, length and depth. Aromatically and texturally, the wine is dominated by oak at this early stage, though this aspect will soften and meld to some extent as it matures in bottle. Very long, juicy, intense finish. Fermented in stainless steel, 40 months in new French oak barriques. Drinking Window 2027 - 2039Decanter | 95 DEC