96% Syrah, 4% Viognier

Food pairings: Small game, red meats and cheeses; also lovely with duck glazed with sweet spices, beef tataki with a soy-sesame sauce, and eggplant stuffed with herbs and parmesan.

Winemaking: A small share of white Viognier is co-planted with the Syrah, and the two are harvested and fermented together, giving the wine extra elegance and lift. The grapes are picked by hand and carefully sorted, then fermented for about three weeks in temperature-controlled stainless-steel tanks with regular punching down. The wine is aged for at least 36 months in oak barrels, half of them new, all made by Guigal's own cooperage at Château d'Ampuis. 2021 was a challenging Northern Rhône year, with spring frost and a cool, wet summer that made for one of the smallest crops in recent memory, but a dry, sunny September saved the harvest, giving fresh, elegant, classically styled wines with precise aromatics and bright acidity.

Vineyards and terroir: Côte-Rôtie, the "roasted slope," is the northernmost appellation of the Rhône Valley, where Syrah grows on vertiginous terraced hillsides that catch and focus the sun's heat. As its name says, Brune et Blonde de Guigal brings together the appellation's two emblematic slopes. Legend has it that a lord once left the Côte Brune to his dark-haired daughter and the Côte Blonde to his fair-haired daughter, and the soils match: darker, iron-rich soils with some clay on the Côte Brune, and paler schist and silica-limestone soils on the Côte Blonde. Together they give the wine its mineral tension, depth and aromatic complexity.

Family and history: Maison Guigal was founded in 1946 by Étienne Guigal in Ampuis, an ancient village at the heart of Côte-Rôtie, where he had arrived in 1924 at the age of 14 and went on to make wine for 67 vintages. His son Marcel took over in 1961 and, with his wife Bernadette, who joined him in 1973, built the house into the benchmark of the Rhône, bringing Côte-Rôtie to worldwide prominence. In 1995 the family bought the historic Château d'Ampuis on the banks of the Rhône, restored it over many years, and in 2003 opened its own cooperage there. Their son Philippe officially joined as winemaker in 1997 and, with his wife Eve, represents the third generation; every blend is still created by father and son in the family tasting cellar.

In the pictures: Marcel and Philippe Guigal in the family cellar in front of a carved cask (photo: © E. Guigal, press kit). Château d'Ampuis on the banks of the Rhône, with the Côte-Rôtie slopes behind (photo: © E. Guigal, press kit). The terraced Côte Blonde, with the Domaine E. Guigal gate and sign below the vines (photo: © E. Guigal, press kit).