1988 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline

Saturated ruby-red. Knockout nose combines black raspberry, smoked meat, truffle and woodsmoke. Lush and seamless, with captivating black raspberry and gunflint flavors framed by harmonious acids and supported by a powerful minerally backbone. The firm tannins are buried in fruit on the extremely long, palate-staining, peppery finish. An incredible wine, just now embarking on its plane of peak drinkability.

As long-time readers know, I have given a disproportionate number of perfect scores to Guigal's Cote Roties. And guess what? Guigal's current releases, the 1988s, all merit perfect scores. I thought they were potentially perfect from cask, and now that they are in the bottle I have to believe that they are Guigal's most successful wines since his 1978s. They are even richer than the extraordinary 1985s, and more concentrated than the magnificent 1983s. La Mouline contains the highest percentage of Viognier of the three Guigal single vineyards. The amount can vary, but it is usually between 8-12%. This gives La Mouline the most intense perfume of the trio. While the color is always a dark ruby/purple, La Mouline will never be as black as La Landonne, which is made from 100% Syrah, or La Turque, which may include a small percentage of Viognier. La Mouline is the most seductive of the three wines when young, offering a sweet, chewy, multi-textured style that is impossible to resist. It is also the least ageworthy. While vertical tastings have proven that La Mouline will easily keep for 15-20 years, it can easily be drunk when it is released. La Mouline also comes from Guigal's oldest vineyard, with vines that are over 75 years in age. Guigal's Cote Roties, particularly the single vineyard wines, are exceptional wines. They offer extraordinary flavor intensity, impeccable purity, and awesome length and complexity. The yields from the three vineyards - La Mouline, La Landonne, and La Turque - rarely exceed two tons per acre. Moreover, no one harvests any later. That the wines spend nearly three and one-half years in 100% new oak tells you something about the level of extraction Guigal is able to achieve. While the oak is noticeable for 1-2 years after bottling, anyone who has tasted the 1985s, 1983s, 1982s, 1980s, or 1978s would be hard-pressed to find evidence of new oak. The level of fruit extraction in these wines literally soaks up the oak, making them all the more structured and complex. While all three wines share phenomenal concentration and marvelous perfumes, they could not be more different. The wine spends 42 months in new small oak casks and is bottled without fining or filtration. Importer: Classic Wines, Boston, MA.