Lucien Le Moine
Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru “La Grande Montagne”
Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru “La Grande Montagne”
This tiny vineyard is located - as the name suggests - on the steep hillside of the same name just west of Chassagne-Montrachet. La Grande Montagne itself is the most southerly of the limestone hills which make up the Côte d’Or escarpment. It is located in the heart of the band of the best Chassagne 1er Crus at the top of the slope that includes Grandes Ruchottes, la Romanée and Caillerets.
E. Guigal
Saint-Joseph Blanc
While the reds of Saint-Joseph are today one of the most exciting stories in the Rhone Valley, the minuscule production of whites, in the hands of the best producers, are absolutely thrilling and in a perhaps less extreme way than the other great whites of the region, namely in Hermitage and Condrieu. Get them while they're still affordable.
E. Guigal
Saint-Joseph
Saint-Joseph today is one of the most exciting appellations in the Rhône Valley, and dare we say all of France. The work by leading producers such as Guigal, energy from young growers, and recognition (really, re-discovery) of sites capable of making wines of extraordinary depth and complexity; of the same family as its famous neighbor in Hermitage, but with a distinct suppleness and elegance.
Lucien Le Moine
Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru “Cailleret”
Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru “Cailleret”
Chassagne-Montrachet Caillerets is defined by minerality. It is a very classy wine, with lots of dustiness. It’s the wine in Chassagne that you can’t totally pin down with an easy description, and that’s why some consider it a Grand Cru level. Minerality is the main point – little white stones, lots of limestone.
Domaine Chanson
Meursault
Meursault, Burgundy
Chanson's Meursault is a village wine with Premier Cru standards. The grapes are from 4 different plots of vineyards from selected growers. 2 of these plots are located on mid-slope for finesse and minerality. The other 2 are situated around the village for more richness and depth.
E. Guigal
Tavel
Situated across the Rhône River from Châteauneuf-du-Pape, the vineyards of Tavel produce France’s finest rosé wine. The appellation status is only for low-yielding, rosé wines, and the wines have depth and structure.
E. Guigal
Côte-Rôtie Château d’Ampuis
The Guigal family spent 15 years restoring Château d'Ampuis, a historic property whose oldest sections date to the 11th century. The Château d’Ampuis has been the symbol of the town of Ampuis and the world-renowned Côte-Rôtie vineyard area for ten centuries. When the Guigal family learned that there was at one time a wine produced with the Château d’Ampuis name, they decided to produce an exceptional wine that would showcase the best that Côte-Rôtie has to offer.
E. Guigal
Côte-Rôtie La Mouline
Côte-Rôtie
First planted by the Romans 2,500 years ago, La Mouline is the oldest and most famous vineyard of Cote-Rotie, and Guigal’s single vineyard bottling of La Mouline in the 1960s set off a quality revolution throughout the Rhone Valley. The stunning amphitheater is the most complex plot in Cote-Rotie due to its extremely steep slopes with expositions in every direction. Of the three famous “LaLas” that Guigal produces and are the most collectible wines of the Rhone Valley, La Mouline was the first and is the only one on the Cote Blonde, and its signature is an unbelievable exoticism, an irresistibly and unique lifted floral, black fruit, earthy, spicy perfume, its coiled power always in balance, seemingly endless.
Lucien Le Moine
Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Les Folatières”
Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Les Folatières”
The Folatières climat lies near the summit of this slope, above Clos de la Garenne roughly midway between Meursault and Montrachet. It is the largest of Puligny’s premiers crus and is always sweet, has a lot of ripeness, showing apricot and other similar flavors. After 18-20 months the minerality comes out in the wine.
Flight of the Condor
Cabernet Sauvignon
Mendoza
This Cabernet Sauvignon is varietally pure with a linear structure and well-integrated benefit of light oak contact with an overall fresh fruit profile.
E. Guigal
Côte-Rôtie La Turque
Côte-Rôtie
Of the three famous single-vineyard “LaLas” that Guigal produces and are the most collectible wines of the Rhone Valley, La Turque is the newest. This vineyard produced outstanding wines in the first half of the 20th century, but then was not used for wine production for nearly 50 years. The Guigals acquired the vineyard and re-planted it in 1980 and 1981, based on Etienne Guigal’s memory of the quality of the wines it once produced. The first vintage appeared in 1985. In both position and style, it sits between La Mouline and La Landonne: the complex soils lend an exotic character to La Turque, and its concentration and elegance exhibit the virility of the Côte Brune with the subtlety and femininity of the Côte Blonde.
Lucien Le Moine
Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Champ Gain”
Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru “Champ Gain”
Champ Gains is high on the hill, and produces a wine in which a sense of dryness overshadows the sweet fruit - the sweetness that comes out is not an easy sweetness, and while you get apricot and other fruits on the palate, there is always a sense of dryness pulling them back.
E. Guigal
Côte-Rôtie La Landonne
Côte-Rôtie
One of the three “LaLa” wines that Guigal produces and are the most collectible wines of the Rhone Valley, La Landonne is a remarkable expression of terroir. And for good reason, La Landonne is situated on one of the steepest vineyards of the Côte Brune, a 45 degree slope that remarkably requires harvesters to start picking from the bottom of the vineyard and work their way up, placing grape bunches in bins that are set on sleds and dragged up the hill. Along with its position at the northern end of the Côte Brune and the fact it is the last vineyard to ripen, La Landonne is the mirror of the feminine and voluptuous La Mouline: it is a wine of driving power, defined by its dark fruit and structure. The first vintage Guigal produced was in 1978, after being planted in 1975 at the time of Philippe Guigal’s birth.
E. Guigal
Condrieu La Doriane
Condrieu
La Doriane is a luxury cuvée of Condrieu that the Guigals have produced since the 1994 vintage. A great success since the first vintage, the wine always seems richly oaked and very fruity when young, transforming in 3-4 years into a seamlessly complex, aromatic and vibrant wine. La Doriane contradicts the accepted wisdom that Condrieu does not age well.
Lucien Le Moine
Puligny-Montrachet 1er “Champ Canet”
Puligny-Montrachet 1er “Champ Canet”
Mounir describes Champ Canet as a frustrated Puligny. It has a lot of vivacity, it is racy and salty, influenced strongly by Meursault. You can think of it almost as a Meursault Perrieres in Puligny.
Flight of the Condor
Malbec
Mendoza
This wine has a vibrant fresh fruit profile on the palate and complemented by violet aromatics and nuanced complexity of well integrated oak contact.
E. Guigal
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blanc
Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Guigal produces an intensely concentrated, inviting and complex Châteauneuf-du-Pape that is almost unique to the region today. Their passion for Châteauneuf, the leading appellation of the Southern Rhône, runs as deeply as that for their home sites in the Northern Rhône. The combination of working with top fruit that has perfect ripeness, along with their extraordinary patience in the cellar, results in rich and full, yet savory, spicy, seamless and balanced wines. Wines to enjoy immediately but capable of aging, and, above all, wines that leave you wanting more.
Lucien Le Moine
Meursault 1er Cru “Charmes”
Meursault 1er Cru “Charmes”
Charmes is larger than both Perrieres and Genevrières put together, extending all the way down to the Meursault-Puligny road. The upper part of the vineyard produces extremely compelling Meursaults, with a soft flowery character that is less racy than Perrieres and less spicy than Genevrières, but just as intense.
Ponzi Vineyards
Laurelwood Pinot Noir
Laurelwood District, Chehalem Mountains, Willamette Valley
Dick and Nancy Ponzi helped put Oregon on the map in the United States and the world, and the Ponzi family has worked continuously for over 50 years leading and innovating in the region and, in the case of Pinot Noir, across the country and indeed the world. Today winemaker Luisa Ponzi continues her work of the last 30 years with the family of Champagne Bollinger, which acquired Ponzi Vineyards in 2021. The estate’s drive to create distinctly pure Pinot Noir, in a distinctly Oregon manner, has never been stronger.
Lucien Le Moine
Meursault 1er Cru “Genevrières”
Meursault 1er Cru “Genevrières”
Genevrières is defined by viscosity. The vineyard is mid-slope, and in the Lucien Le Moine Genevrières there is always notable acidity (even in low-acid years) and alcohol. “Mr Too Much of Everything” is how Mounir likes to describe this wine. It ferments slowly, and for some reason it always has a touch of cloudiness – something never precipitates out. It’s a wild child.