Hospice du Rhone, from the French perspective
Many wine tasting events say that there will be “wineries from around the world pouring.” Often, that translates into one or two importers offering samples from a few minor wineries.
Not so Hospice du Rhone. The French luminaries included Château de Beaucastel, Chateau Juvenal, Château Pesquié, Chene Bleu, Domaine la Barroche, Pierre Gaillard, and, the star of the show for me, E Guigal.
Some of these could support a well-attended wine event all on their own. For instance, I have tasting notes on nine wines from Guigal alone.
The Rhone Valley is divided into two regions, Northern Rhone and Southern Rhone. Syrah is the main red wine in Northern Rhone; whites from there feature mainly viognier and marsanne. Grenache is the star in Southern Rhone, highlighted in wines from Châteauneuf-du-pape. You will also see syrah and mourvedre from Southern Rhone.
I will talk about two wineries, Chateau Juvenal and E Guigal.
Two of Juvenal’s wines have the same name, Perseides, one a red and one a white. Juvenal is in Southern Rhone, so, as you would expect, the main red grape is grenache. A full-bodied but not heavy wine, it’s delicious, with bright, red fruit, especially cherries. The Perseides Blanc is 100% roussanne. While it doesn’t seem to have a long shelf life, it’s quite tasty right now, bright with notes of stone fruit.
Guigal is a powerhouse producer, with a glorious history of stellar wines. In fact, over the years, Robert Parker’s Wine Advocate has bestowed on 36 of its wines the perfect score of 100. Few wineries located anywhere in the world have achieved such notoriety. And, after tasting nine of their offerings, I can see that their claim to fame is well-deserved.
Go to Guigal’s website and you will see that they categorize their wines into three sections: Chateau de Nalys (a relatively recent acquisition in Southern Rhone); The Collection (notable wines from both Northern and Southern Rhone); and, The Treasures, highly collectible gems from Northern Rhone.
Patrick Will, the vice president of Vintus, the importer of Guigal to American shores, has worked with Guigal for more than 25 years. He poured four of “The Treasures” at HDR: 2016 and 2018 Ch. Ampuis; 2018 Vignes de l’hospice; 2020 St. Joseph Lieu-dit Blanc; and 2020 Condrieu La Doriane. He also opened at least six other wines, but let’s focus on these.