This 2008 Guigal Rotie was in a very nice place. This wine had been opened for about 10 hours prior to recorking and serving. From the initial nose, this one just seemed to be a product of a "hotter" climate. Cote Rotie means "roasted slope", steep west-facing hillsides and this translates to very robust, "roasted" and immense red wines. On the nose, charred black fruits, hint of age, a little bit "hot." The entry is roasted, barbecued blackberries, black cherries, and black licorice. Herbs de Provence on the entry and mid-palate. The middle of this wine is earthy black figs, tobacco, BBQ potato chips. Finishes with black pepper, still quite a bit of chalky tannins, and still has a few years of life left in it. What a nice wine enjoyed tonight with elk, buffalo, and burnt end mac and cheese!!! Enjoy now with a healthy decant, or hold for another 3-5 years!
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{Bought by DE on release; tasted with LT, MB, SO, DE; tasted in flight with 1999 Delas La Landonne and 1996 Clape Cornas. Tasted without decanting} Extraordinarily sexy fragrant nose bursting from the glass, like a great Amoureuses, but fruit in the mouth still needs some time to round out. Superb Syrah tannins and fruit. Indeed after being open for several hours the wine had tightened up! Probably a 97 point wine in the long run but based on tonight's showing would hold another 5 years. Just pipped by the extraordinary Clape Cornas (96) tonight, but I think in the long run this flamboyant wine has the potential to reach a little higher.
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13%abv. Dried floral, graphite, smoky, sweet ripe black fruits, grilled meat, tarry, scorched earth, sweet and pungent spices, wood. Layered and expansive yet very fine and focus. Masculine and savoury in an elegant package. Lovely vintage.
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At Skinner pre-auction tasting, Newton, Mass.: Lots of tannin, lots of acid, with sweet, soft fruit behind. There is an imbalance of structure and content, but it's still a big, impressive wine. It will take a long time for the tannins and acid to mellow, but it is certainly drinkable in the meantime. The others in my coterie rated this the best of the three 2008 Guigals; I ranked it behind the La Landonne.
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Well, I am somehow new to this category of Rhone wines. I am very familiar with CdR (Gigondas, Rasteau, Cairanne etc.) and somehow also with Septentrionale but this was new to me. Thanks to FC1910 for this experience. The first nose with sherry, cassis, gingerbread but also raspberry and in the mouth also pepper. After some air, the pepper was gone but now the ripe fruits took over and the acidity at the end was fantastic from my point of view carrying a lot of fruit which tasted fantastic.
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As I have read this 2008 is a difficult vintage for this famous bottling, so we let pnp this one without wrong expectations, but.... and this is a big but, the bottle tantalizes us from the first sip, the steak is history, this bottle is showing compote, strong ripe cassis and a lot of herbs, especially black pepper, with more aeration this one changes to a more harmonic and silky showing, all the way elegant, precise in rich savoury fruit, ending long with some really demanding acidity, if this is a "problematic" vintage, how do the best ones show? ***(*+?), 92,93(+) potential
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This was decanted 3 hours in advance. The pepper has moved into the supporting background and the dark cherry fruit and vanilla more evident on the nose. Plenty of fruit and rhone elements here, but this is quite elegant and easy to drink with food. Some tannin shows at the very end of the finish, but nothing at all too intrusive. While it is hard to justify the price point via the usual suspects at 1/3 or less the price, this is high quality Cote-Rotie for the vintage and I would not turn down a glass. A-
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Also tasted blind I was on this right away; duller maroon with red at the rim, clarity; pretty perfume to the nose, floral though not quite violets, black pepper, white pepper, sweet dark cherries, bacon fat, plush luxurious oak that is integrating well, a slight white chocolate mocha edge, less emphasis on granite though this was distinctly Northern Rhône; juicy acid, sweet fruit, nice acidity and drinkability, plush velvety texture, fresh sweet cherries, subtle black olive comes out with more air, black pepper is nice, white pepper and softer more accessible tannin structure led me to think this was ‘08 La Mouline; very tasty and could drink a bunch but not the most profound La La.
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Decanted and enjoyed over 2 hours. Still young, but can be enjoyed now. Dark fruits, pepper, tannin still showing on the finish. Maybe not the concentration of the best, but enjoyable and would likely have benefitted from more air. A-
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Alinea Reserve Wine Pairing February 2018 (Alinea Chicago): The sommelier must have liked us because she poured us a glass after our main courses. Simply fantastic. Deeper and more intense than the 2009 Guigal Chateau d'Ampuis. Dark, rich fruit, peppery spice and wonderful tannin balance. A highlight of the evening.
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Medium garnet, clear meniscus. Brambly fruit, cola, alcohol on the nose. High acid red fruit in the mouth (think Goji or Elderberry), an herbal component, noticeable angular tannins. This needs dinner or a cheese course to find its balance.
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A elegant wine with bright medium-dark ruby red and a clear edge. It had a rich aroma of candied red fruits especially raspberries, sweet red cinnamon spices, hints of cola, clear violets scent, some astringent herbs, and wet stone and leaves. This wine showed off a dry round mouthfeel, medium weight with gentle acidity and balanced mellow tannins, and had a long finish of ripe cherries. Tasted in Nov. 2016.
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The bottle was opened one week before, still very drinkable, red berries, some black pepper, nice vanilla aromas, after this long time of air it has come to an end. But a lot of potential, 93+
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Try to find his way, a very masculine wine, lot of red and dark fruits, spicy, some cinnamon and pepper, good strong tannin structure, that need time to evolve and show his complete beautiness, refreshing acidity, at this point not really smooth but with a lot of extract sweetness, long life ahead, will try it again in 5 years 92-94
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Vertical tasting of Guigal La Turque (Esperanto, Stockholm): Nose with cherries, strong flowery notes of violets, some liquorice, a hint of herbs, well integrated oak. Definitely elegant. Medium bodied(+), palate with slightly sweetish note, cherries and red berries, noticeably tart already in the attack, slightly spicy, medium tannins (well embedded in the fruit), mineral. The aftertaste is tart and fruity with slightly angular tannins. Young, the nose is better than the palate, 89-90+.
The 2008 shows a little lighter coloured notes than the 2007, and a slightly harder tannic structure. It is clearly a good and elegant wine for the vintage, which was a difficult one.
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Guigal Masterclass Stockholm, 8 vintages of La Turque: Nose: Sweet red cherries, some smoke, gunpowder, oak and burned wood, some stones and minerals. Young and undeveloped, with wood being very evident. Palate: Soft tannins, minerals and with high acidity. Long, medium finish, with acid, dry fruit and rather soft tannins. A bit on the light side, but much, much better than expected after reading reviews. Will develop, and the acidity being high, in combination with young fruit gives this wine a very good potential to be really great further down the road. 93 + for now.
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A bit reductive. Smells of matchbox, then some sweet red fruit gets through. Easier then the La Mouline, a bit more red-toned. Full body, very young, obviously. Spicy, rather mineral, quite complex already, very tannic. Very long. Blueberry. Black pepper. Olives.
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9/11/2023 - Lord Rodney wrote: 94 Points
Beautiful - open but needs 5 more years to the top
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8/31/2023 - mflesh wrote: 93 Points
This 2008 Guigal Rotie was in a very nice place. This wine had been opened for about 10 hours prior to recorking and serving. From the initial nose, this one just seemed to be a product of a "hotter" climate. Cote Rotie means "roasted slope", steep west-facing hillsides and this translates to very robust, "roasted" and immense red wines. On the nose, charred black fruits, hint of age, a little bit "hot." The entry is roasted, barbecued blackberries, black cherries, and black licorice. Herbs de Provence on the entry and mid-palate. The middle of this wine is earthy black figs, tobacco, BBQ potato chips. Finishes with black pepper, still quite a bit of chalky tannins, and still has a few years of life left in it. What a nice wine enjoyed tonight with elk, buffalo, and burnt end mac and cheese!!! Enjoy now with a healthy decant, or hold for another 3-5 years!
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6/21/2023 - Musigny1955 Likes this wine: 95 Points
{Bought by DE on release; tasted with LT, MB, SO, DE; tasted in flight with 1999 Delas La Landonne and 1996 Clape Cornas. Tasted without decanting} Extraordinarily sexy fragrant nose bursting from the glass, like a great Amoureuses, but fruit in the mouth still needs some time to round out. Superb Syrah tannins and fruit. Indeed after being open for several hours the wine had tightened up! Probably a 97 point wine in the long run but based on tonight's showing would hold another 5 years. Just pipped by the extraordinary Clape Cornas (96) tonight, but I think in the long run this flamboyant wine has the potential to reach a little higher.
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5/5/2023 - wineappellation Likes this wine: 94 Points
13%abv. Dried floral, graphite, smoky, sweet ripe black fruits, grilled meat, tarry, scorched earth, sweet and pungent spices, wood. Layered and expansive yet very fine and focus. Masculine and savoury in an elegant package. Lovely vintage.
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4/29/2023 - MC wrote:
Decanted 3 hours and drank really well with dark fruit, earth, leather, and really nice balance with and without food. In a really good spot. A-
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12/25/2022 - CGandur Likes this wine:
Totally lovely
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8/11/2022 - talbot61 Likes this wine:
At Skinner pre-auction tasting, Newton, Mass.: Lots of tannin, lots of acid, with sweet, soft fruit behind. There is an imbalance of structure and content, but it's still a big, impressive wine. It will take a long time for the tannins and acid to mellow, but it is certainly drinkable in the meantime. The others in my coterie rated this the best of the three 2008 Guigals; I ranked it behind the La Landonne.
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10/14/2021 - 559Cheers Likes this wine: 93 Points
Great wine and at a good spot. Somewhat strong black pepper on the palette.
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2/5/2021 - Raizes Likes this wine: 92 Points
成熟浓艳的黑色水果和甘草、香草气息，入口热情似火，连带着让酸度的表现居于了次要位置。单宁的厚重感和酒精带来的重量让酒在中段稍显沉重，但回味的香气表达依然展现了多层次的变化性。
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8/16/2019 - theno Likes this wine: 93 Points
Well, I am somehow new to this category of Rhone wines. I am very familiar with CdR (Gigondas, Rasteau, Cairanne etc.) and somehow also with Septentrionale but this was new to me. Thanks to FC1910 for this experience.
The first nose with sherry, cassis, gingerbread but also raspberry and in the mouth also pepper. After some air, the pepper was gone but now the ripe fruits took over and the acidity at the end was fantastic from my point of view carrying a lot of fruit which tasted fantastic.
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8/16/2019 - fc1910 Likes this wine: 93 Points
As I have read this 2008 is a difficult vintage for this famous bottling, so we let pnp this one without wrong expectations, but.... and this is a big but, the bottle tantalizes us from the first sip, the steak is history, this bottle is showing compote, strong ripe cassis and a lot of herbs, especially black pepper, with more aeration this one changes to a more harmonic and silky showing, all the way elegant, precise in rich savoury fruit, ending long with some really demanding acidity, if this is a "problematic" vintage, how do the best ones show? ***(*+?), 92,93(+) potential
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3/21/2019 - MC wrote:
This was decanted 3 hours in advance. The pepper has moved into the supporting background and the dark cherry fruit and vanilla more evident on the nose. Plenty of fruit and rhone elements here, but this is quite elegant and easy to drink with food. Some tannin shows at the very end of the finish, but nothing at all too intrusive. While it is hard to justify the price point via the usual suspects at 1/3 or less the price, this is high quality Cote-Rotie for the vintage and I would not turn down a glass. A-
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2/2/2019 - hprphf wrote: 92 Points
La Tablee 2019: Juicy red and dark fruit, quite convoluting. 92
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10/18/2018 - Rezy13 Likes this wine:
Also tasted blind I was on this right away; duller maroon with red at the rim, clarity; pretty perfume to the nose, floral though not quite violets, black pepper, white pepper, sweet dark cherries, bacon fat, plush luxurious oak that is integrating well, a slight white chocolate mocha edge, less emphasis on granite though this was distinctly Northern Rhône; juicy acid, sweet fruit, nice acidity and drinkability, plush velvety texture, fresh sweet cherries, subtle black olive comes out with more air, black pepper is nice, white pepper and softer more accessible tannin structure led me to think this was ‘08 La Mouline; very tasty and could drink a bunch but not the most profound La La.
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6/27/2018 - MC wrote:
Decanted and enjoyed over 2 hours. Still young, but can be enjoyed now. Dark fruits, pepper, tannin still showing on the finish. Maybe not the concentration of the best, but enjoyable and would likely have benefitted from more air. A-
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2/17/2018 - bdisk1235 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Alinea Reserve Wine Pairing February 2018 (Alinea Chicago): The sommelier must have liked us because she poured us a glass after our main courses. Simply fantastic. Deeper and more intense than the 2009 Guigal Chateau d'Ampuis. Dark, rich fruit, peppery spice and wonderful tannin balance. A highlight of the evening.
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2/9/2018 - Ben Christiansen wrote:
Intensely perfumed. Delicious and amazing.
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1/12/2018 - WineTally Likes this wine:
93% Syrah, 7% Viognier. Average age of vines 25 years.
Stainless steel fermentation/ 4 week maceration.
Aged 42 months in new oak.
13% Abv.
A(ccuracy)=2: Med garnet. Delicate, aromatic, smoky.
B(alance)=3: Fully integrated components.
C(omplexity)=2: Red berries, earth, leather, coffee, bacon.
D(epth)=2: Supple mouthfeel, lingering finish.
Wine Tally Score [2,3,2,2] = 9/10
Well made in difficult vintage.
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12/25/2017 - skifree wrote: 92 Points
Medium garnet, clear meniscus. Brambly fruit, cola, alcohol on the nose. High acid red fruit in the mouth (think Goji or Elderberry), an herbal component, noticeable angular tannins. This needs dinner or a cheese course to find its balance.
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8/31/2017 - etyc Likes this wine:
SL's dinner @ JP.
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11/10/2016 - Pegasys wrote: 94 Points
A elegant wine with bright medium-dark ruby red and a clear edge. It had a rich aroma of candied red fruits especially raspberries, sweet red cinnamon spices, hints of cola, clear violets scent, some astringent herbs, and wet stone and leaves. This wine showed off a dry round mouthfeel, medium weight with gentle acidity and balanced mellow tannins, and had a long finish of ripe cherries. Tasted in Nov. 2016.
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12/13/2015 - steinersing wrote: 92 Points
Again lighter than others. Pepper. May drink early.
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10/7/2015 - aquacongas Likes this wine: 93 Points
The bottle was opened one week before, still very drinkable, red berries, some black pepper, nice vanilla aromas, after this long time of air it has come to an end. But a lot of potential, 93+
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9/30/2015 - aquacongas Likes this wine: 93 Points
Try to find his way, a very masculine wine, lot of red and dark fruits, spicy, some cinnamon and pepper, good strong tannin structure, that need time to evolve and show his complete beautiness, refreshing acidity, at this point not really smooth but with a lot of extract sweetness, long life ahead, will try it again in 5 years 92-94
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10/9/2012 - Vintomas wrote: 90 Points
Vertical tasting of Guigal La Turque (Esperanto, Stockholm): Nose with cherries, strong flowery notes of violets, some liquorice, a hint of herbs, well integrated oak. Definitely elegant. Medium bodied(+), palate with slightly sweetish note, cherries and red berries, noticeably tart already in the attack, slightly spicy, medium tannins (well embedded in the fruit), mineral. The aftertaste is tart and fruity with slightly angular tannins. Young, the nose is better than the palate, 89-90+.
The 2008 shows a little lighter coloured notes than the 2007, and a slightly harder tannic structure. It is clearly a good and elegant wine for the vintage, which was a difficult one.
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10/9/2012 - Ramberg wrote: 93 Points
Guigal Masterclass Stockholm, 8 vintages of La Turque: Nose: Sweet red cherries, some smoke, gunpowder, oak and burned wood, some stones and minerals.
Young and undeveloped, with wood being very evident.
Palate: Soft tannins, minerals and with high acidity.
Long, medium finish, with acid, dry fruit and rather soft tannins.
A bit on the light side, but much, much better than expected after reading reviews.
Will develop, and the acidity being high, in combination with young fruit gives this wine a very good potential to be really great further down the road.
93 + for now.
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8/20/2012 - igaf wrote:
A bit reductive. Smells of matchbox, then some sweet red fruit gets through. Easier then the La Mouline, a bit more red-toned. Full body, very young, obviously. Spicy, rather mineral, quite complex already, very tannic. Very long. Blueberry. Black pepper. Olives.
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