December 14, 2023 - Fantastic stuff. At Guy Savoy in Vegas. A nearly perfect fully aged but still going strong Mouline. A great example of the alchemy of the LaLas as they really bloom with 30 or so years of age.
November 25, 2023 - From Paris with Love, 2023 Edition; 11/24/2023-11/25/2023 (Paris): The majesty of La Mouline. Especially following a more exuberant and attention speaking 1988 La Turque ( Papies 99) just showed why this wine is in another league. Elegant, effortlessly balanced and does not shout or scream. Just delivers with no need to over exert or over reach. Just elegantly softly delivers a savoury, roast meat, soft spice and herbs symphony of classical mastery. We have been ever so fortunate to try this wine 3 times before over the last decade or so and the wine has always been perfect ( 2x 100 and one 98) or near there. Exceptional once again just shy of the perfect score ( we debated this very much) but really numbers mean very little at this stage. 99
September 5, 2023 - Blind and this was very clearly Northern Rhone and most like Cote Rotie to my palate with a distinct bacon note on the palate and flolarity in the aroma. Medium-to-full bodied with waves of mature meaty fruit interlaced with meat, florals, pepper, olive and spice. Outstanding stuff at peak.
September 5, 2023 - Tuesday (Chicago, IL): Served double blind. (Fun story, the neck tag actually said 1979 but had a small '8' sticker applied over the '7'.) This didn't taste like the 1979 at all -- it was far darker and more opulent. Lots and lots of fruit, with just modest oak showing. It was a pretty easy guess to get to older Côte-Rôtie because it didn't have the weight and tannic structure of Hermitage, nor the rusticity of Cornas of that era. Wonderful nose of bacon, olive, and black fruit, which carried through to the palate. I ended up guessing 1990 Guigal.
June 10, 2023 - A pre-50 pre Birthday Celebration; 6/9/2023-6/11/2023 (Around Zurich Area): Tasted blind. The issue here was was it a Guigal La La or a Chave Hermitage as the usual Guigal Oaky dynamic was not that prominent. We went with La La. We have tried this wine twice before and rated perfect ( 2015 & 2021) and we wonder whether the wine is staring to tail of it just the bottle here was more evolved than normal. Probably the latter albeit the cellar of Taverne Zum Schafli, Wigoltingen is perfect and sourced from excellent provenance. Could well be that it was also eclipsed by the perfect 1990 La Mouline that was served side by side . Impressive and supremely elegant as always and albeit we did not find it perfect this time we did feel it was magnificent in its softer and lighter side too. 98
February 13, 2023 - Excellent wine but perhaps not a perfect bottle. The palate was excellent, but the nose was a bit musty.
December 18, 2022 - From a perfect looking bottle, this wine had a deep red center and light red/orange rims. The high intensity nose put forth black cherries, cola, roasted meat, plum, tan spices, and minerals.
In the mouth, this wine went through several phases, all of them attractive. It took several hours of full on air to get this wine to its peak level. It was refined in texture with rounded tannin, firm acidity, and great length. Even though the texture was rounded and refined the flavor impact was outstanding.
This wine scored about a 95 when first opened and picked up about 1 point per hour. It was certainly in the rarified quality of the greatest wines and may even improve. It will certainly last a least a decade and maybe two.
December 17, 2022 - Holiday Champagne Gala (Park Ridge Country Club): In Guigal flight(s). Absolutely brilliant from the moment opened through when poured 30-45 minutes later through when finished an hour_ later. Ripe, powerful fatty and spicy. This kept changing and unfolding, always big and perfectly balanced.
December 12, 2022 - A thrilling wine in every sense of the word. Aromatically, you find dried flowers, cherries, plums, kirsch, spice, leafy herbs, smoke, and black pit fruits. The palate feels like opulent, silk with layers of sweet, fresh, earthy, pure fruits, that are seamless in the finish. This is probably at, or close to its peak. Drink from 2023-2034.
February 16, 2022 - Incredible. It's hard to describe the combination of elegance and power that you have here, along with the elements of complexity present. Spice, blackberries, burnt bacon...no need to decant. Drank alongside the 2006 and you could see how complete this wine was. How a great bottle of wine is supposed to be. Surprisingly light bodied.