Côte-Rôtie and the Guigals. Syrah on the steepest slopes of the Rhône.

The neck of the funnel

The Rhône Valley is shaped like an upside-down funnel. The narrow neck is the Northern Rhône and the wide bowl is the south. In the north, red wines are made almost entirely from Syrah, which the Guigals believe was born here. Grown in this cool spot, it shows blackberry, black olive, tapenade and especially pepper, and has a tremendous capacity to age.

Technically it is a reductive grape, which needs some oxygen during winemaking and aging. The great white of the Northern Rhône is Condrieu, made from the richly perfumed Viognier, which smells like biting into ripe stone fruit.

Côte-Rôtie, a living museum

Côte-Rôtie, the roasted slope, rises above Ampuis. The Rhône cut a deep canyon through granite here, leaving slopes as steep as 60%, held up by dry-stone terraces. The Romans saw how much sun such slopes caught and planted vines; Philippe Guigal calls it a living museum where the same gestures have been repeated for some 2,400 years.

Côte-Rôtie may include up to 20% Viognier, added for finesse and perfume. The slope is split between the Côte Blonde and the Côte Brune. The blonde tends to give lighter, more floral wines and the brune richer, denser ones, a generalization that, as one voice in the film admits, sounds rather sexist.

From apricot picker to winemaker

Etienne Guigal arrived in Ampuis at 14 to visit his brother, who picked apricots. His brother told him vines had no future, but Etienne looked at the slopes and vowed to make wine there, to buy the La Mouline vineyard and to own a particular house in the village. He founded his own domaine in 1946 with his wife Marcelle.

When Etienne went blind for eight months, his son Marcel took charge of the business at just 17, too young even to drive or sign a check. His father's advice was to taste blind. Today Marcel and his son Philippe taste together seven days a week and say their palates are almost identical.

The La La's and patient aging

Guigal is famous for three single-vineyard Côte-Rôties known as the La La's. La Mouline is the vineyard that drew Etienne to Ampuis. La Turque was abandoned for decades before Marcel replanted it. La Landonne, built from 17 small plots nobody wanted, was planted the week Philippe was born, making him its owner. Two are blended with Viognier and one is pure Syrah.

The top reds spend around 42 months in oak, much longer than usual, and each vat is aged separately and blended only before bottling. Because barrels matter so much, the family set up its own cooperage. At the other end of the range, a single Côtes du Rhône blend can draw on up to 850 samples. See how Philippe explains blending as adding qualities and subtracting flaws, and how his Burgundy training changed the pressing.

What to eat with Côte-Rôtie

Scores come up too. Jeannie Cho Lee MW explains why she is known as a stingy rater, and Tim Atkin MW points out that the 100-point scale really runs from 80 to 100. The Guigals are happy to receive perfect scores but insist they will never change their style to chase them, since wine, as Philippe says, is stable while people are not.

Jeannie Cho Lee MW pairs Guigal Côte-Rôtie with honey-glazed barbecue pork, which brings out the meaty Syrah and echoes the floral Viognier. Tim Atkin MW prefers a really good stew, Marcel suggests venison with the La La's, and Philippe's simple pleasure is Condrieu with foie gras.

Go furtherWant to taste along? Find E. Guigal’s wines and where to buy them near you on Wine-Searcher.