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  • Country ranking ?

    862
  • Producer ranking ?

    73
  • Decanting time

    3h
  • When to drink

    now to 2045
  • Food Pairing

    Enjoy without food

The Tb points given to this wine are the world’s most valid and most up-to-date evaluation of the quality of the wine. Tastingbook points are formed by the Tastingbook algorithm which takes into account the wine ratings of the world's best-known professional wine critics, wine ratings by thousands of tastingbook’s professionals and users, the generally recognised vintage quality and reputation of the vineyard and winery. Wine needs at least five professional ratings to get the Tb score. Tastingbook.com is the world's largest wine information service which is an unbiased, non-commercial and free for everyone.

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The Story

La Mouline is a steeply terraced amphitheater on the Côte Blonde, a shape that shelters the 2.5 acre site from the wind and acts as a heat trap.  Soils are gneiss with lightly colored silicone containing limestone loess.  The site is planted to 89% Syrah and 11% Viognier, with the two varieties picked together and co-fermented. This extra dose of Viognier gives La Mouline its telltale aromatic complexity and additional softness and roundness; it is often called the most feminine of Guigal’s Côte-Rôties.

 

La Mouline is historically the oldest vineyard in Cote-Rotie, with walls dating back 2,400 years, and today its vines are the oldest in the region, averaging 90 years of age, with the oldest dating back to plantings in the 1890s, just after phylloxera. Acquired in 1966, this was Guigal’s first single-vineyard Côte-Rôtie.

The wine sees traditional pumpovers, and alcoholic fermentation and maceration last around 4 weeks.  Aging is for 42 months in new oak barrels made at the Chateau d’Ampuis cooperage.

 

In order to enhance quality the Guigals worked to acquire ownership in vineyards. Purchased in 1965, the just under one-hectare La Mouline plantation, which is located on the slopes of Côte Blonde, set the stage for the Guigals’ present reputation. Introduced the very next year, the La Mouline single-vineyard proved to be a smashing success, and the active acquisition of vineyards continued. However, it would be more than 10 years before the Guigals introduced their next single-vineyard wine, the La Landonne, in 1978. Just over 2 hectares in size, the plot was purchased piece by piece from 17 different small-scale growers.

The Guigals finally revealed their true greatness in 1984 when they acquired the oldest winemaker in the Rhône, Etienne’s former employer, Vidal-Fleury. This significant acquisition instantly made the Guigals the leading producer in the Côte-Rôtie region, giving them a 35% share of the entire region’s output. This new acquisition also gave the Guigals ownership of Vidal-Fleury’s La Turque plot. Introduced in 1985, the La Turque cemented Guigal’s reputation as one of the most prestigious producers of single-vineyard wines in the Rhône. The single-vineyard wines gave the Guigals the authority that helped them to profile their production from the Côtes-du-Rhône wines on. This is how Guigal evolved into the region's leading commercial AOC brand, whose only real contender is, for the time being, Paul Jaboulet Ainé.

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Wine Information

Parker 100 points: The 1991 La Mouline (408 cases produced) includes 8% Viognier in the blend. Sweet, expansive, and forward, it is as captivating and compelling as always. Not as super-concentrated as the 1988, 1989, and 1990, it is still a voluptuous, opulently textured wine that should drink well in its first 15 years of life.

Guigal's Cote Roties, particularly the single vineyard wines, are exceptional wines. They offer extraordinary flavor intensity, impeccable purity, and awesome length and complexity. The yields from the three vineyards - La Mouline, La Landonne, and La Turque - rarely exceed two tons per acre. Moreover, no one harvests any later. That the wines spend nearly three and one-half years in 100% new oak tells you something about the level of extraction Guigal is able to achieve. While the oak is noticeable for 1-2 years after bottling, anyone who has tasted the 1985s, 1983s, 1982s, 1980s, or 1978s would be hard-pressed to find evidence of new oak. The level of fruit extraction in these wines literally soaks up the oak, making them all the more structured and complex. While all three wines share phenomenal concentration and marvelous perfumes, they could not be more different. I do not think anyone can adequately articulate the multitude of aromas of flavors they possess, but let me try.



La Mouline contains the highest percentage of Viognier. The amount can vary, but it is usually between 8-12%. This gives La Mouline the most intense perfume of this trio. While the color is always a dark ruby/purple, La Mouline will never be as black as La Landonne, which is made from 100% Syrah, or La Turque, which may include a small percentage of Viognier. La Mouline is the most seductive of the three wines when young, offering a sweet, chewy, multi-textured style that is impossible to resist. It is also the least ageworthy. While vertical tastings have proven that La Mouline will easily keep for 15-20 years, it can easily be drunk when it is released. La Mouline also comes from Guigal's oldest vineyard, with vines that are over 75 years in age.

All three wines spend 42 months in new small oak casks and are bottled without fining or filtration.

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Tasting note

color

Ruby red and Healthy

ending

Long, Extensive and Spicy

flavors

Blackcurrant, Pepper, Petrol, Cedar, Port-like and Herbs

nose

Intense

recommend

Yes

taste

Average in Acidity, Well-structured, Good texture, Rich, Vigor, Jammy, Medium-Dry and Silky tannins

Verdict

Exotic and Sophisticated

Written Notes

The 1991 Guigal Cote-Rotie La Mouline was still dark and deep, full of bacon fat goodness.  My belly was feeling like bacon fat goodness, too, at this point (95).
 

  • 95p
A reasonably mature wine from a great producer and one of the Rhone's great vineyards. And not a bad vintage to boot. This was immediately apparent as a top notch wine with wonderful complexity. There was game, animal hide, dark berry notes, all leading to an enticing mix of sweet and savoury. And still fresh. The balance is excellent and expect this to be a very long lived wine. You simply have to love a wine like this. 95
  • 95p

The most accessible of the LaLas, from a great northern Rhône vintage. Very lively, shaded ruby. Very dense and savoury and attractive nose. The most luxurious, rich, hedonistic seducer on the nose. Like essence of Côte Rôtie. Rich black pepper – with a drop of syrup thrown in. Big, bold and long. Great richness but unlike anyone else's rather purer Côte Rôties. No shortage of pleasure though. Like brambles and sandpaper. Very clean finish.

  • 95p
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Information

Origin

Côte-Rôtie, Rhône

Vintage Quality

Excellent

Value For Money

Best buy

Investment potential

Average

Fake factory

None

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Tavel

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