100% Syrah

Food pairings: Red meats and game, such as roast wild boar with snow peas and braised endives, hare à la royale or lamb, as well as mushroom risotto, cacio e pepe, and cheeses like Cantal or Saint-Félicien.

Scores:

• 96 points, Jeb Dunnuck
• 95 points, Wine Advocate

Winemaking: Guigal makes this wine exactly like its single-vineyard Côte-Rôties and the Ermitage Ex-Voto. It ferments in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats with traditional pump-overs, then ages for 30 months in new oak barrels, many of them crafted in the family's own cooperage at Château d'Ampuis. It is clarified only by racking and bottled without filtration. 2022 was one of the hottest and driest growing seasons ever recorded in the northern Rhône; mid-August rain helped the grapes finish ripening, and the small crop gave a concentrated, deeply fruited wine that keeps the cool, granite-driven character of the site. It already offers real pleasure, yet has the depth to age gracefully for many years.

Vineyards and terroir: Vignes de l'Hospice is one of Guigal's "Treasures" and is often described by the family as its fourth single-vineyard phenomenon in the northern Rhône, alongside the famous Côte-Rôtie "La-Las." The vineyard climbs an extremely steep, terraced granite hillside in Tournon, directly across the Rhône from the hill of Hermitage. The granite of Tournon here is both very dark, rich in mica schist, and laced with blue quartz, a formation similar to that of the celebrated Bessards slope of Hermitage, which is why the wine pairs the finesse of Saint-Joseph with the power of its neighbor across the river. The monks of the Hospice of Tournon long ago recognized the plot as perfect, in the manner of a Burgundian clos. Guigal acquired it with the Grippat and de Vallouit estates and first bottled it with the 2001 vintage; the family now owns most of the hillside and works hard to preserve its old stone walls. The vines range from 20 to 80 years old.

Family and history: Maison Guigal was founded in 1946 in Ampuis, in the heart of Côte-Rôtie, by Étienne Guigal, who arrived there as a 14-year-old in 1924 and made wine for 67 vintages. His son Marcel and Marcel's wife Bernadette turned the house into the reference for the Rhône Valley. In 1995 the family bought the historic Château d'Ampuis, and in 2003 they set up their own cooperage in its 15th- and 17th-century outbuildings, where nearly 1,000 barrels a year are made for their great wines. Marcel's son Philippe is the winemaker, and with his wife Eve he represents the third generation.

In the pictures: Terraced vines on the steep granite hillside directly above Tournon-sur-Rhône, with its old round tower (photo: Guerinf, 2023, CC BY-SA 4.0). Toasting a new barrel over an oak fire in Guigal's cooperage at Château d'Ampuis (photo: © E. Guigal, press kit).