Taste Testing All 4 Wines Of Rhône’s Most Legendary Single Vineyard Syrahs That Put Côte-Rôtie On The Map: E Guigal La Mouline, La Landonne, La Turque & The First Vintage Of La Reynarde
In 1945, a farmer from Ampuis, a small village in the steep-sided Rhône Valley of eastern France, could make a better living growing apricots than growing grapes on the precipitous slopes above the village. A kilo of apricots would fetch you about one franc; a kilo of Côte-Rôtie grapes (“Côte-Rôtie” being the tiny appellation surrounding Ampuis with spectacular terraced hillsides), just about 45 cents.
This might be a deliciously odd comparison to begin our piece about French wine’s most legendary collection of single vineyard Syrah wines, but it probably provides the clearest perspective of the origin and raison d'etre of the famed Guigal LaLas. It might also be the reason the Côte-Rôtie appellation is even within the vocabulary of most wine drinkers today.
Thanks to Grand Vin Singapore, we recently had the very special opportunity to taste an entire set of Guigal LaLas, including the recently launched Guigal La Reynarde 2022. Clément Vivant who represents E. Guigal in the region led our masterclass, pouring the new celebrated wine alongside La Mouline, La Turque and La Landonne, explaining the origins of each vineyard, the Guigal family's decisions, and each wine's unique character. These incredible wines including the new La Reynarde 2022 are now available in Singapore from Grand Vin!
But first, let's have a recap of House Guigal's story.
Post-War Ampuis: A Neglected Côte-Rôtie Reborn
Établissements Guigal (E. Guigal) began in 1946 Ampuis. This is the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation – translated as “the roasted slope” – known for its ancient, vertiginous vineyards clinging to steep hillsides that have grown grapes since the Roman era. But by the time its founder Étienne Guigal established his domaine here, Côte-Rôtie was anything but the glamorous wine region. In fact, it nearly disappeared as a wine region.
(Source: E. Guigal)
The early 20th century had pummelled the region: phylloxera infestations, the economic depression and two World Wars left the vineyards abandoned and overgrown. On terraces that demanded so much work, growers pulled out vines in favour of orchards or simply stopped tending them. Although Côte-Rôtie became a recognised wine appellation in 1940, the quality of its wines was generally poor. It was widely believed that investing in farming grapes here would not pay.
Étienne had sufficient faith in the region’s potential to make this leap of faith. He had arrived in in Ampuis in 1924. At just 14, he joined Vidal-Fleury, a 150-year-old Northern Rhone wine house to learn the ropes, and in so doing developed a certain affinity for the region’s winemaking.
From the beginning, Étienne built a small family domaine while also buying grapes and wine from other growers to bottle under his label. This dual identity of part farmer-winemaker, part négociant, gave E. Guigal the flexibility to survive harder harvests. Guigal could produce quality wines from lesser-known appellations it does not own, all under the family name. At the same time, profits from the négociant arm could be funnelled back into acquiring more choice vineyards.
The heavily terraced Côte-Rôtie appellation.
It was particularly difficult to keep the faith during the first decades. Vineyards in the region continued to dwindle and only a few dozen hectares remained planted by the late 1950s. Local authorities were even drafting plans to bulldoze some of the finest vineyard slopes for housing developments.
Growing grapes in this terrain has always been physically demanding, even today. On the steepest Northern Rhône terraces, individual vines are supported by wooden stakes called échalas, which help keep them upright against the Mistral, the region’s strong wind. Machinery cannot work many of these slopes, and according to Clément, harvesters today containue carrying the picked grapes by hand.
The business survived this period by the sheer determination of Étienne and the grapes supplied from a few growers who continued keeping the Côte-Rôtie flame alive.
Marcel and Etienne Guigal.
Unfortunately, in 1961, Étienne was struck by sudden, total blindness. With his father incapacitated, the responsibility of running both the small domaine and the struggling négociant house fell on the shoulders of 17-year-old Marcel Guigal who had to drop out of school.
There were few encouraging words from friends and family. The talk of the town was that Marcel was inheriting a doomed business. His worried friends counselled him to continue with his studies instead. They say, continuing to make wine in Côte Rôtie was “madness, with winemakers destined for ruin.”
The young Marcel may not have realised it in the 1960s, but he was about to become the saviour of Côte-Rôtie.
Marcel’s Single Vineyard Côte-Rôtie Breakthrough & La Mouline of Côte Blonde
The young Marcel Guigal gradually turned things around, against the odds. Initially, he had to fight to literally preserve the land itself: working with others like grower Albert Dervieux to lobby against the planned housing development on the prime vineyard terraces.
Marcel also toiled to clear and replant abandoned parcels, seeking to prove that these hillsides could produce greatness. Slowly, the amount of Côte-Rôtie left under the vine began to grow again.
Next, Marcel believed that to revive the appellation’s reputation, he had to dramatically improve the quality and distinctiveness of the wines. He often argued that Syrah from these slopes could rival the elegance of Burgundy’s Pinot Noir – a bold claim in an era when the repute of Burgundy completely overshadowed Rhône wines.
An extract of a map of the Côte-Rôtie appellation, with its important sub-appellations of Côte Blonde and Côte Brune marked out (in yellow).
To prove his claim, Marcel had to pioneer single-vineyard bottlings in the region. Wine lovers and experts had a habit of paying close attention to a particularly special plot of land. In Burgundy, the name of a prized vineyard could command as much attention, if not more, than the village on the label. Côte-Rôtie had names too, but at that time, its wine was traditionally sold as a blend from various lieux-dits (“named place”) under the same appellation name. For instance, besides “Côte-Rôtie”, a few labels identified “Côte Blonde” or “Côte Brune”, the two broad sides of the slope.
The La Mouline vineyard (Source: E. Guigal)
As Marcel’s single-vineyard ambitions were developing, around the same time, the elderly Étienne recalled how he had been captivated by the quality of the wines - since his youth - from a particular plot called La Mouline, owned by the Dervieux. The Guigals decided to approach the Dervieuxs to fulfill the long-held wish of Étienne. They acquired La Mouline in 1966.
La Mouline is an unusually warm and early-ripening pocket of a cool region. Roughly a hectare of narrow terraces curves around the Côte Blonde like an amphitheatre. The vineyard faces south, exposing the vines to generous sun while its concaved shape shields some of the cold winds that sweep through the northern edge of the Rhône. The grapes are generally ready before those from Guigal's other great sites.
(Source: E. Guigal)
Beneath the vines like pale, sandy soil that comes from gneiss, a hard rock, mixed with calcareous loess, the fine silt carried there by wind. This soil contains more limestone and less of clay, iron oxide and manganese associated with the darker Brune sector. This soil composition results in a finer, more delicate and perfumed expression of Syrah. La Mouline thus occupies the aromatic and perfumed end of the Côte-Rôtie spectrum with red berries, violets and spices.
The incredible age of the vines also add to the wine’s concentration. These vines average about 100 years old today; the oldest surviving vines date from 1893.
Finally, among the Syrah is about 11 per cent Viognier. These two varieties are harvested and fermented together rather – the Viognier accentuating the naturally floral character of the Cote Blonde-side Syrah, contributing yet more fragrance and roundness.
The original owners of the vineyard sold its wine under the Côte Blonde appellation. After acquiring the plot, Guigal put “La Mouline” at the centre of the bottle’s identity – an unprecedented choice in Rhône at the time.
The first vintage was the 1966 La Mouline. This was making a radical statement: that a Rhône wine could receive the same terroir-focused reverence of a grand cru Burgundy, that Côte-Rôtie had unique crus worthy of individual fame. The early La Mouline bottlings dazzled those lucky enough to taste them – it’s described as a Côte-Rôtie of unprecedented perfume and silky finesse, co-fermented with a touch of Viognier and filled with violets, smoked meat and olives. This gave Marcel something concrete to put beside his argument that Côte-Rôtie could rival the elegance of red Burgundy – notwithstanding that Côte-Rôtie uses Syrah while red Burgundy uses Pinot Noir.
As word spread among wine cognoscenti, Marcel’s gamble began paying off. The first bottles quickly found their way to the wine lists of prestigious restaurants across France. Guigal’s breakthrough also became perhaps the first time that guests gradually began recognising the wider “Côte-Rôtie” appellation as a remarkable region – even as La Mouline was perched at the top of the hierarchy.
Assembling Côte Brune’s La Landonne from fifteen pieces
With the La Mouline, the Guigals have given drinkers a name that they would remember from Côte Blonde.
But even before the first La Mouline was bottled, Étienne had begun pursuing another hillside on the other side of Ampuis. He remembered seeing vines on La Landonne at the northern end of the Côte Brune when he was young and believed the abandoned ground could make fine wine again. Much of the land was unplanted. It was so treacherously steep that some of its former owners warned him he may regret buying it.
Another difficulty was that La Landonne had to be painstakingly assembled – it was a mosaic of parcels that belonged to fifteen separate owners. Étienne approached each one and assembled the parcels piece by piece gradually over the years. By 1975, the family held about 1.8 hectares. That January, Étienne and Marcel began planting on the slope to celebrate the birth of Marcel’s son, Philippe. The first vintage was the 1978 La Landonne, made from vines only three years old.
The third generation Philippe Guigal who leads the Guigal House today refers to La Ladonne as “my cuvée”. He affectionally recalled a childhood memory of being reluctant to leave his cartoons until his grandfather said they were going to his vineyard.
Philippe and Marcel Guigal (Source: E. Guigal)
Stand on La Mouline, then imagine looking across to a vineyard in the Côte Brune that rises up to 275 metres at an angle of about 45 degrees. La Landonne faces south-east, so its vines receive plenty of morning sun. But unlike La Mouline’s pale, sandy soil, here, mica-schist, a layered rock, has weathered into darker, clay-rich earth. The clay retains water longer through dry weather, resulting in even riper Syrah and wines that are broader and more tannic than those from the faster-draining Blonde.
La Landonne is a wine built around concentration and tannins. It is entirely Syrah with no white Viognier that adds a floral lift to La Mouline. While La Mouline gives perfume and supple texture; La Landonne carries darker fruit, firmer tannin and is expected to have much greater longevity and requires patience before it fully opens – up to fifty years.
The label design of the La Landonne harks back to the region’s ancient winegrowing history. We see an image of figures engaged in agricultural work, taken from a Roman mosaic at Saint-Romain-en-Gal
La Turque: the Côte Brune with Côte Blonde accents
Guigal became large enough to acquire Vidal-Fleury in 1984. The Guigal journey has come a full circle. The neglected Côte Brune vineyard, La Turque, was among the holdings of Vidal-Fleury itself came together with the acquired estate.
Funnily enough, La Turque almost never made it into the Guigals’ hands if not for a vegetable farmer’s decision to turn down an offer to buy it. Around 1980, Marius Gentaz was offered La Turque. Much like the apricot growers mentioned at the start of this piece, Gentaz declined the offer, preferring to make his income from vegetables. The value attached to these slopes today was still far from obvious to everyone farming them.
The La Turque vineyard (Source: E. Guigal)
La Turque is only about a hectare. Wines were once made here before vines disappeared since 1935. The Guigals replanted and restored the vineyard.
It lies on a very steep south-facing part of the Côte Brune, close to the Côte Blonde boundary. Sun reaches its terraces directly; below them, mica-schist breaks down into clay-rich ground, with siliceous and calcareous material also present. The clay’s ability to retain water is significant on an exposed slope. Where La Landonne’s south-easterly aspect and pure Syrah give a darker, more firmly built wine, La Turque combines its Brune position with about 7% Viognier, harvested and fermented with the Syrah. This accounts for a lifted scent alongside the dark fruit, spice and grip. Guigal describes the wine as a Côte Brune with “Blonde accents”.
With this third prestige wine, a distinct identity is beginning to emerge with each one of the “LaLa” collection. Whereas La Mouline might be recognisable for its elegance and a certain violet scent, La Landonne is known for its muscularity and denser tannins, and then we find something different again in La Turque’s spice and perfume.
The three names beginning with “La” eventually gave the wines their nickname, the “LaLas”. It was a memorable shorthand for these three sites and their wines with distinctive personalities attributable to the specific vineyards and to the usage, or absence, of Viognier.
The American critic who elevated the “LaLa” cult
Guigal and Côte-Rôtie’s transformation was nearly complete by the late 1980s.
Some of the most pivotal advocacy for Guigal’s LaLa collection and its Côte-Rôties wine came from American critic Robert Parker. He compared the 1978 La Mouline and La Landonne with celebrated Bordeaux vintages and called that La Mouline one of the finest wines he had tasted. He later published a rave article declaring the 1985 Côte-Rôties “the most dramatic, intense wines” he’d tasted since first encountering 1982 Bordeaux. He gave all three 1988 LaLas perfect scores.
Suddenly, international wine buyers woke up to what was happening in this once-forgotten corner of France. Demand soared, prices climbed. The 1985 La Mouline and La Landonne were originally released in the United States at about US$85 each. By 2006, bottles of those vintages were averaging about US$1,000 at auction. A tiny 2003 harvest pushed prices still higher. The Côte-Rôtie renaissance was finally in full swing!
New oak was always an old Côte-Rôtie practice
Apart from pioneering single vineyard wine in Côte-Rôtie, another radical stroke from E. Guigal was unprecedented élevage that they subject their wines too.
When the La Mouline was first produced, the practice in Côte-Rôtie was to age wines in large, old casks or used chestnut barrels. Besides the obvious cost of new oak barrels, there was a prevailing concern that too much new oak could overwhelm the fruit in the wine.
Marcel with his son, Philippe Guigal (Source: Jon Wyand)
Yet it wouldn’t be right to describe this prevailing practice as the region’s historical practice. Doing a bit of research into the region’s winemaking practices some 150 to 200 years earlier, the Guigals found that the leading Côte-Rôties of their day regularly spent four years in new “pièces" which are small oak barrels. What looked unusual in 1960s Ampuis was in fact a return to an older practice.
The LaLa collection of wines are therefore aged in new oak for some of the longest periods of the Guigal wine portfolio at about 40 to 42 months, so that the wine emerges with a fuller, more polished texture, and notes of vanilla, clove and a trace of toast or smoke to the Syrah’s fruit. Clément noted that time in barrel allows tannins to integrate and the texture to develop, another crucial condition for the wines' capacity to age in bottle.
(Source: E. Guigal)
Of course, the wine needed to have sufficient concentration in the first place to withstand the élevage. To that end, La Mouline offers ripe fruit from its warm Côte Blonde amphitheatre and already old vines when the family acquired them. Marcel also deliberately pursued low yields and fully ripe grapes to maximise concentration, enough to take on the new oak’s contribution while retaining La Mouline’s perfume and supple texture.
In 2003 the family began making its own barrels at its Château d’Ampuis cooperage, which turns out nearly 1,000 barrels a year, assembling and toasting French oak for the house’s wines. This allows the Guigals to choose the wood and how strongly it is toasted, decisions that affect what a new barrel imparts to a wine during those forty months.
Château d’Ampuis.
La Reynarde: The slope planted for Philippe’s sons
For twenty-five years after La Turque’s debut, the LaLas remained a trio. Then came the La Reynarde in 2010 when Philippe welcomed his twin sons, Charles and Étienne Jr, into the world.
(Source: E. Guigal)
Philippe remembers the motivation and special feeling to be told that a vineyard was his, and to watch the vineyard grow up along with him. So when his twin sons were born, he wanted them to grow up with that same connection to the family’s business. That year he took on an abandoned parcel in the Fongeant lieu-dit, on the Côte Brune side, about 300 metres from La Turque.
The slope no longer carried vines due to phylloxera, and restoring it would take years of clearing and rebuilding terraces before a single vine was planted. Philippe saw enough promise in the site to undertake that work. Charles and Étienne Jr had meanwhile watched the terraces take shape and the vines grow. La Reynarde was named for the stream below Fongeant.
Guigal had explained that it took significant work on the terraces and walls before any planting could start, and that the entire project was a slow and tedious process. Clearing the site and rebuilding its terraces and walls took five years. The family then planted the parcel gradually beginning in 2010. They chose a massal selection of Syrah propagated from cuttings of existing vines.
The broader Fongeant area sits higher and farther into one of the small valleys that cut through Côte-Rôtie than the lower, river-facing slopes. Its upper ground is around 285 to 320 metres and tends to be cooler. The terraces receive enough sun to be concentrated and ripe. Here, mica-schist weathers into clay-rich soil that can hold water through dry spells. In hotter growing seasons, a higher, cooler sector gives the vines different ripening conditions from those on the lower terraces. La Reynarde is pure Syrah.
Philippe named the wine for the Reynard stream, which separates the Côte Brune and Côte Blonde sectors, adding the feminine ending to keep it consistent with the other “La” names.
(Source: E. Guigal)
La Reynarde is pure Syrah, fermented in whole bunches, with the stems left attached to the grapes. Clément described this as a deliberate part of the new wine’s identity. In the three older LaLas, he said, whole-bunch use can vary with the vintage and the balance the family wants, including the need to preserve freshness in warmer years. La Reynarde then spends 40 months in new oak.
And so we have the four LaLas of today. The La Mouline with its elegance and florality, La Landonne with its intensity and longevity, La Turque with its spice and perfume, and the newcomer La Reynarde with a marriage of Brune Syrah power with a perfumed lift from vines that sit on the boundary that separates Côte Blonde from Côte Brune.
Clément added that these four wines also tell different aspects of the Guigal family's story: La Mouline represents Étienne’s long-held wish; La Landonne was planted as a gift for Philippe; La Turque represents Marcel's vision; and La Reynarde is now the inheritance of Philippe's sons, Charles and Étienne Jr. Each generation should be able to express its own judgement through a vineyard, giving each new LaLa an identity of its own.
(Source: E. Guigal)
Wine Review: E Guigal La Mouline
2020 Vintage, Côte Blonde, Côte-Rôtie. Blend of 89% Syrah and 11% Viognier. Average 100 years old vines with 35 HI/ hectare yield. Traditional pumping over with five weeks on the skins and 40 months of élevage in new oak.
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Deep ruby.
Aroma: Complex, expressive, yet still clean and delicately poised. It opens with powdery florals - violets, dark rose petals, then concentrated dark and red fruits; black cherries, blackcurrants, raspberries with an undercurrent of wild strawberry and a plush base of black plums. There's a just-as-present aromatic herbs and spice layer, with cassia bark, moss, garrigue, and with time, sweet tobacco, dark chocolate, espresso, sautéed champignon mushrooms and a mineral petrichor aroma. It's fruity, floral, earthy and yet still really clean, with no dustiness to the polished fruit whatsoever.
Taste: Dense and velvety, with richness without weight and tart fruits providing some lift. Tannins are silky and polished, while the acidity is bright, supple and rounded. A generous dark fruit core with dark cherries, blackberries and mulberries, lifted by lively tart red fruits - sour cherries, wild strawberry, raspberry and haw flakes. With time, it evolves into plums and then prunes. A thread of black liquorice in with cocoa powder, cassia bark, anise and pepper along with savoury Mediterranean herbs. It gets slightly more grippy and spiced as it approaches the finish.
Finish: Medium plus in length. It's firmer still, with a refined slightly stony character. Dark cherry skins with a chalky grip, leather, wild strawberry preserves, with trailing dried herbs and spices, cassia bark, black pepper. Lingering violets.
My Thoughts
This is perhaps the most complex and elegant of the collection. It leads with powdery florals, concentrated red and dark fruits, cassia spices and savoury herbs all coming through so distinctly, while the overall structure remains so clean and fresh for a wine of such impressive concentration. Acidity is also giving it a lifted, gourmet quality.
And while the fruit and floral perfume stays fresh, already it is showing balanced and savoury depths of age with cocoa, tobacco, sautéed mushroom and leather clearly attributed to the lengthy new oak aging.
It is highly drinkable and very complete already, and indeed the La Moulin is generally the earliest-drinking of the collection. Still, we can expect the fruit and structure to knit together and open further with some more time.
Wine Review: E Guigal La Turque
2020 Vintage, Côte Brune, Côte-Rôtie. Blend of 93% Syrah and 7% Viognier. Average 40 year old wines with 35 HI/ hectare yield. Automatic punching down with four weeks on the skins and 40 months of élevage in new oak.
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Deep ruby.
Aroma: Immediately darker, more assertive and more brooding, with fruit wrapped in stone and smoke. It opens with a dense weave of red and black fruits - morello cherries, wild strawberries, blackberries and mulberries – quite a firm mineral thread of granite and schist – seasoned with a growing spice of black pepper and star anise, and with time, some gamey smoky bacon, coffee grounds and fresh earth. It continues revealing violets, almost powdery blue florals and eucalyptus.
Taste: Full-bodied, heavy, supple, with a firmer frame of polished tannins. It's got a rounded and silky texture, opening with a core of concentrated black fruit, blackberries, black cherries, and a growing tart red edge that develops into pomegranate, haw berries and Chinese bayberry. It's fresh, with the overall acidity bright, while tannins are very present but pliable. All of which is integrated with accents of cured-ham meatiness, then black liquorice, black pepper and a thread of crushed stone dust minerality beneath. More liquorice, herbs and grip build into the finish.
Finish: Clean, stony and firm. Depths of grippy black cherries and tart berries leading from the palate, then liquorice and a savoury meatiness accented by cooling mint and eucalyptus. Lingering notes of granite and schist.
My Thoughts
This is powerful and subtle at once. It's immediately more assertive and concentrated than the La Moulin, but it remains remarkably supple, fresh, gently minty and cleanly mineral. Whereas the La Mouline had led with more perfume, the La Turque brings out a blackberry-pie-like richness paired with more tertiary notes of granite, smoky meatiness within a firmer frame.
It is also quite expressive of its terroir and blend. It clearly exhibits the broodingness and minerality from the Côte Brune fruit along with a touch of violets representing the Viognier.
This is intensity held in check by juiciness, minerality and fine-cut tannins. These tannins and bright acidity will be sure to carry it for a long while in the cellar as it develops beautifully.
Wine Review: E Guigal La Landonne
2020 Vintage, Côte Brune, Côte-Rôtie. 100% Syrah. Average 50 years old vines with 35 HI/ hectare yield. Whole bunch fermentation with continuous pumping over with three weeks on the skins and 40 months of élevage in new oak.
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Dark cherry.
Aroma: Fragrant and lifted, with bright lifted cherry over depths of dark fruits and stoniness. Generous heaps of morello cherries with a very pretty garnish of light violets, before it reveals rich depths of darker fruit; cassis, black plums , blackberry preserve, Chinese bayberry, getting into sweeter territory of dried figs, dried pink guava. Growing minerality of granite, pencil lead and pencil shavings that lead into a clean earthy fresh tilled soil with a light ferrous tone. With more time, we get sandalwood, tobacco ribbons, liquorice and a faint smoky roasted edge.
Taste: Medium-bodied here but highly saturated with dark fruits with a sensual frame in an inky texture. It is rather structured and a little reticent initially, opening with thick-skinned black fruits, black plums, dark cherries, fresh figs, seamlessly unfolding into blackcurrants and cassis. A granite-led mineral thread of pencil lead with a chalky texture. With time, we see more damp soil, a smoky savoury meatiness and ferrous soil amid medium acidity and a flicker of indistinct purple florals. Tannins were quite firm and austere at the start, but they seamlessly loosen up and turn powdery as we approach the finish.
Finish: Long, firm and quite savoury. Tannins still remain somewhat in charge here but they're quickly fading. Dark cherry skins, chewy black liquorice along with minty herbal cough syrup. Lingering granite and continued iron-influenced game meats, fresh leather and dried savoury herbs emerging. Soft spices with a long, seamless grip of spice and plum skins.
My Thoughts
Wow - this is impressively big. Here's the most intense and firmly structured of the LaLa collection, and while it is slightly reticent at this age, we can see a great deal is held in reserve.
For a wine famous for its power and brooding personality, the aroma and finish are surprisingly nuanced and fragrant, while the 100% Syrah asserts its saturated dark fruits, and its structure and dominance on the palate. The intensity comes through immediately on the palate in the form of saturated dark fruits and tannins, without feeling too weighty. Together with its savoury and ferrous influences, this is the favourite wine for pairing with the richest dishes like braised beef cheeks or rosemary roasted lamb.
This has solid potential over the next decades.
Wine Review: E Guigal La Reynarde
2022 Vintage (first vintage), Côte Brune, Côte-Rôtie. 100% Syrah. Average 10 year old vines with 37 HI/ hectare yield. Whole bunch fermentation with automatic punching down with four weeks on the skins and 40 months of élevage in new oak.
Tasting Notes
Appearance: Dark ruby.
Aroma: Perfumed, spiced and dusty-earthy all at once with layers upon layers of dark florals. Opens with black cherries, cassis, black plums and black berries, with just-as-present Mediterranean herbs opening into baking spices: cassia bark, nutmeg, aniseed and liquorice with aromatic dried orange peels. Seamlessly leaning into savoury nuttiness, caramelised roasted chestnuts, cocoa and dark chocolate. Some fresh-cut leather and old leather-bound books accompanying the dark fruits. There's an underlying florality of rich potpourri, dark roses and lavender that never lets up.
Taste: Plush, expressive with a full body and a lightly inky texture. Tart red fruits into the fore with morello cherries, wild strawberries, haw flakes, over black cherries and black berry. Fruits are paired with a peppery feel and savoury Mediterranean herbs. The structure is firm with fresh acidity. A bit of swirling brings out more sweet spices. Cocoa powder, dried tangerine peels, cassia and nutmeg with tannins that build into the finish.
Finish: Clean, fresh with savoury herbs. More on Mediterranean herbs, a gentle saline edge and a savoury vegetal note reminiscent of extra virgin olive oil. The tannic grip eases up. We're left with granite minerality and lingering potpourri petals.
My Thoughts
An excellent new chapter for the LaLa collection!
This is powerful and structured. At the same time, it is surprisingly open, and immediately enjoyable for such a young and structured wine. I like the La Mouline for its complexity – whereas the La Mouline shows refined complexity, the La Reynarde is deliciously layered with a firm frame of plush tannins layered with potpourri, lavender, cassia, orange peel, evocative roasted chestnuts and dusty earth. It has its own voice.
Much of the savoury herb and spice would also likely have come from its whole-bunch fermentation. The younger vines also contribute to the openness and immediate approachability of this wine. We are duly impressed by the first vintage of the La Reynarde!
@CharsiuCharlie
