WTN: 2001 Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque

[David M. Bueker]

2001 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Turque - France, Rhône, Northern Rhône, Côte-Rôtie (9/16/2022)
Pulled the cork and got an immediate hit of bacon. Ah Côte Rôtie! Once in the glass it wasn’t so much bacon, but plenty of roasted meat, smoke, deep cherry & plum fruit. The palate was even more impressive, as it carried the flavors along a layer of bright acidity that made the wine fresh and amazingly food friendly. Tannins kicked in on the finish, but we’re not at all obtrusive. Finishing the wine about four hours after it was opened it remained rock steady. Fabulous showing, and tons of time to go. No regrets opening this bottle. None at all.

Sounds fantastic. I got a few of the Guigal La-Las ca. 1990 vintage and while I enjoyed them a lot at the time they struck me as somewhat international in style rather than tasting like Cote-Rotie. Looks like should take that comment back.

The wine merchant I bought them from nicknamed La Turque the "Wonder Bread Wine" because of the balloons on the label. My though was, "buying a case depletes strong bank accounts 12 ways". The La-Las were the first eye-wateringly expensive Cote-Rotie bottlings.

-Paul W.

[David M. Bueker]

Oddly enough, while they are still crazy expensive, they have not moved much the last 10 years. Other stuff has gotten more expensive around them.