Quotes

"Everyone makes mistakes, but you have to make fewer mistakes."
Marcel Guigal

"We work in reverse to the majority. In the lighter vintages, our vattings are shorter - we don`t try to make up for the year through more extraction. In the big years, we work even more on the matter in the crop."
Philippe Guigal

"We tried raising one cask of the 1976 La Mouline for only 30 months, and compared it to the 42-month ageing. We markedly preferred the 42-month wine."
Marcel Guigal

"I find the Mouline starts quietly, with finesse, then after three or four years, gains dimension."
Marcel Guigal

"If drinking the wines young, I favour La Mouline for its flattering charm. La Turque is the perfect compromise of elegance and matter. La Landonne has the deepest content."
Philippe Guigal

"We set up our own cooper more anything because my father wants to make sure the heating process on the casks is right. We're keen to allow them to dry for three years, not the 18 months or less that you find a lot today."
P.Guigal

“If you acidified the Syrah reds in 2003, you disassociated the wines. You had to work on their cooling a lot during the vinification. It is my favourite recent vintage.” December 2006
Marcel Guigal

“The 2003s were very flattering, indeed almost too flattering, at the outset, but the cask raising gave them more direction. They had been very New World in style.”
Philippe Guigal

“For our Condrieu La Doriane we want a subtle wine, and not one for early drinking – it should be drunk from 5 years plus onwards. It reflects the granite influence of the iron oxide at Volan. It can start out exuberantly, but I prefer it later, when it has gained in subtlety and its underlying minerality comes through.”
Philippe Guigal

“White Crozes-Hermitage is our only white that goes with seafood – it has minerality, and is our freshest white wine. We go to the clay areas for crop to obtain clarity and purity in the wine.”
Philippe Guigal

“I don`t want a light, early wine with our rosés – I like classic Tavel and Côtes du Rhône rosés that can be drunk with food and over a period of time.”
Philippe Guigal

“In the Château d`Ampuis Côte-Rôtie 1997, 2000 and 2004 you notice the oak in the wine, but in a big vintage like 2005, you notice the matter.”
Philippe Guigal

“We still want a proper red colour in our rosé. Aromas are in the pellicule, not in the pulp, so if you reduce the peliccule time, you reduce the aromas.”
Philippe Guigal

“For our Brune et Blonde, the 2007 is more exuberant than the 2006, but 2006 was an archetypal year for Côte-Rôtie – everything wa sin its place – the fruit, tannins, balance – you can follow it faithfully from A to Z. 2005 is very grand, but not a classic vintage, while 2004 was rich and rounded.”
Philippe Guigal

“From 2012 Doriane Condrieu will include half a hectare of Coteau de Vernon, so it will come from 4 hectares in total. Hence Doriane is becoming more of a granite-sourced wine – granites absorb and suck in the new oak well, so I expect the new oak to be less evident now.”
Philippe Guigal

“You don`t need to decant my wines until they are ten years or so old – they have spent a long time in their raising in cask, and don`t throw any deposit until around that time onwards.”
Marcel Guigal

“My white Hermitage doesn`t often close down, since it has already had 18 to 24 months of cask raising, and not been bottled only within one year. Viognier never closes down.”
Marcel Guigal

“2010 has a lot of tannin, but other matter as well – there is a nobility in the matter, a silky touch on the palate. 1991 started out like 2010, while 2005 was mainly marked by tannin.”
Philippe Guigal

“We picked early in 2009 – early and fast to avoid heaviness.”
Philippe Guigal

“Viognier adds aroma to our Côtes du Rhône; we block the malo on it, unlike our northern Rhône whites. My father fought the INAO authorities for a long time to allow more than 5% Viognier in the southern Côtes du Rhône wines. We are not great fans of the Grenache blanc, and only include 1-2% of that. The Viognier is now 60% of the wine, with 15% Roussanne, around 10% Marsanne and Clairette and Bourboulenc.”
Philippe Guigal

“I was never so pleased to have long, extended cask raising for the reds as I was in 2013 – the density of matter and the structure of the wines required that.”
Philippe Guigal