WTN: '03 Guigal CdR - Nasty!

2003 E. Guigal Cotes du Rhone Overly ripe and stewed fruit on the nose. It had an iodine-like bitterness in the mouth and tasted raw, like wine racked right after primary fermentation. My wife would only take one stip and refused to try it again.

Even after two days it showed little improvement. The wine displayed no varietal characteristics. In fact, it tasted just like a horrid '03 Poujeaux I sampled a couple of months ago.

Now, either there are some bad bottles in circulation, or a lot of Cellartracker users are on crack. The average score was 86.3 and apparently Parker gave it a good rating.

A few other CT users had similar comments to mine, so I know it's not just me.

Anyone else try the '03 Guigal CdR?

[David M. Bueker]

Well I hated the 2003 Guigal Crozes-Hermitage. Well I should say that I hated it once I knw it was supposed to be a syrah. It tasted like Beaujolais that was on steroids and HGH. CellarTracker ratings are on crack. An 86 is the rating equivalent of DNPIM to them (why I don't put numbers on CT).

I have had better luck in 2003 Bordeaux than you have though.

It tasted like Beaujolais that was on steroids and HGH.

That's an apt comparison. It had that young taste of Beaujolais, but much more ripe. And not at all like syrah.

I had the '03 Guigal CdR in June '06 and thought it ok:
Perfectly acceptable if uninspiring CdR, ripe
raspberries and blackberries and some herby aromas. Round but not
flabby, not bad. B
I didn't mind it at all, though not enough to look for more.

Different tastes for different folks, of course,but it could certainly be batch variation. Production of this is surely in the tens of thousands of cases, so variation is not totally surprising.

As to tasting like Syrah, without other info I'd assume most CdRs are primarily Grenache, with some Syrah and other varieties. As to the Crozes not tasting like Syrah, I've not liked the Guigal Crozes in any vintage, get the feeling their vineyard sources aren't the best.

Looking through the notes of CT users who rated it poorly, descriptors are: burnt rubber, weedy, bitter, astringent.

Definitely not the same wine you describe. I'd say there's a high probability of batch variation, then.

Ah well, it only cost $13 Cdn and ended up being a learning experience.

And it could very well be mostly Grenache. Whatever the case, it didn't taste like a Rhone wine.

Burnt rubber is a reductive fault. Sounds like someone in quality control goofed on a batch.

[David M. Bueker]

FYI - the Guigal CdR is usually Syrah dominated. The 2003 is 60% Syrah. And when we're talking Syrah, burnt rubber is not that far from tar.

Whether its 55% (Guigal website) or 60%, asking for varietal correctness in a blend that is at least close to half other grapes seems a bit harsh to me. Website says that is production is about 3 million bottles (250,000 cases)so I am personally not shocked at idea of variation (after all, Guigal is in same region as Jaboulet, my personal exemplars of varitaion). I just looked at CT, iut seems the notes are much less favorable over last 8-12 months. One batch?

We went to a Guigal tasting (all lower end stuff) at a fondue restaurant last year. This was one of the wines and it was undrinkable there.

[David M. Bueker]

Whether its 55% (Guigal website) or 60%, asking for varietal correctness in a blend that is at least close to half other grapes seems a bit harsh to me. Website says that is production is about 3 million bottles (250,000 cases)so I am personally not shocked at idea of variation (after all, Guigal is in same region as Jaboulet, my personal exemplars of varitaion). I just looked at CT, iut seems the notes are much less favorable over last 8-12 months. One batch?

Not sure if you are responding to me Dale, but I ceretainly would not be looking for varietal correctness. I was just pointing out that Syrah can frequently bring tar aromas and flavors, and that's just a stone's throw from burnt rubber.

As for variation - I thought a while back (2-4 years) Guigal had announced there would be a single master blend. Scary thought given the size, but I do recall hearing that.

Whether its 55% (Guigal website) or 60%, asking for varietal correctness in a blend that is at least close to half other grapes seems a bit harsh to me. Website says that is production is about 3 million bottles (250,000 cases)so I am personally not shocked at idea of variation (after all, Guigal is in same region as Jaboulet, my personal exemplars of varitaion). I just looked at CT, iut seems the notes are much less favorable over last 8-12 months. One batch?

Not sure who this is in response to, but I believe I said it didn't show any varietal characteristics. I certainly didn't expect it to taste exactly like syrah, but it probably should have shown some qualities of it.

[Jenise]

My experience with the wine was exactly like Dale's. Boring and rather dilute compared to the Guigals of the 90's, completely unremarkable and would not buy again, but not bitter and astringent. Must be a lot of bottle variation.

So what is the deal with this bottling? I was recently surprised by a 1991 which was as fresh as a daisy!!! In fact, it was one of the few S Rhone wines that I would say, honestly rocks! On the basis of that I bought a 2001 (most recent at our monopoly, then). It was boring. Now we have the 2003 (2002 never came this way) available and on the basis of the 2001 and this note I have no inclination to try that one.

-Otto-

[Jenise]

Neat report on the 91, Otto. That was the vintage that I first discovered Guigal CdR with, and I bought a case every year through the 90's after that. Skipped 2000, then bought a case of the 2001. Only a year ago did the 2001, which is black and would appear to be all syrah, become drinkable. And it's nothing like that pitiful 03, or the very good vintages 91 thru 99, all of which tracked each other in the way that good wines from good producers do, differing only in accordance with the different strengths (or weaknesses) of the vintage. The 01 and the 03 are from other planets entirely. Sign me "ex-fan".

I recall the first time I tried Guigal. It was on the waiters recomendation at the now defunct old classic Coach and Six in Atlanta. About 20 years ago. It was excellent.

The last 6 or 8 years have been very disapointing regardless of the varietal. i doubt I'll be buying any Guigal's any time soon

We had it about three month ago. My wife liked it, I thought it was pretty ok. Reminded me more of a Languedoc wine than of a CdR, though.

Winfried

This thread is not encouraging.....I have a bottle in the cellar. On the bright side, at least I know to have something in reserve whenever I plan to consume this bottling. Or maybe I can give it to some deserving in-law?

I've had about half a dozen of these and thought it a decent $10 quaffer. There is a slight bitterness and a funny quality to the buzz from drinking it that makes me think 'chaptilization,' though I don't really know enough to say so with authority. I don't plan to acquire any more.

I think I read on a hanger somewhere that Mr. Parker gave it a 90, which seems odd.

I did not like this wine one bit, but it sounds like I might have gotten a different batch than Mike B. Here are my notes:

2003 E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône, $14.99, 13% alc.: Dark garnet color, with a funky vegetal nose that follows through on the palate with some prune-y plum underneath; decent depth, structure and length, and definitely NOT in the “international” style, but I’m not the biggest fan of a wine that tastes and smells like overcooked broccoli, or worse, Brussels sprouts. More fruit emerges with air, but not enough to save this for me; that’s not to say that it’s not drinkable, it is, but only once. Maybe I needed to pair it with grilled gizzard of Molesworth, because I can’t for the life of me understand where the noted Wine Spectator critic got “muscular black cherry and toast flavors followed by tar, vanilla and tobacco on the finish” from this. Maybe he got the special “reviewers’ cuvée”…?

Imported by Ex Cellars Wine Agencies, Inc., Solvang, CA

Just my 2 oz.,

geo

This thread is not encouraging.....I have a bottle in the cellar. On the bright side, at least I know to have something in reserve whenever I plan to consume this bottling. Or maybe I can give it to some deserving in-law?

Sit on it for a few years, Mike. Although the one I had was nothing like the solid efforts from the mid-90s on back, they did have a good track record for aging once upon a time, and at this point, you don't have much to lose, no?

I tried Guigals Crozes-Hermitage 2003 a couple of weeks ago. And funnily enough, it was actually one of the best Syrahs I've ever had! But then again, I've really never understood what's so great about Syrah (sorry guys!). I can understand the comparision "Beaujoulais on steroids" that David wrote; I felt that it was quite burgundy-like (Pommard?), elegant, acidic (despite the vintage!), and it lacked the heavy fruit that doesn't turn me on in either Aussie-shiraz or some CdR. Then again, I've understood that Guigals cheaper wines are subject to extensive bottle-variation, so I might have been lucky. So lucky in fact, that I bought another bottle...