Guigal Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde 2017 1.5 Liter Magnum
The 2017 Guigal Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde is a dark ruby red color. Aromas of red berries, spices and delicate oak exude from the glass. Round soft tannins. Aromas of raspberry, blackberry and vanilla. The balance between scarcely perceptible acidity and tannins add aging potential and is softened by long aging in oak.
Pair this wine alongside a small game, red meat and cheese.
Critical Acclaim
94 Wine & Spirits
This is a terrific vintage of Brune et Blonde, a blend of both estate and purchased fruit from the Côte Brune’s schist soils and the Blonde’s granite. The concentration gained in the warm, dry summer of 2017 is reflected in the wine’s color, as dark purple as a Kalamata olive; the flavors are clenched in a fist of tannins and oak smoke. But give the wine a day to open and it turns cigar-smoky, with a cool blueberry-skin feel to the fruit, silky and refined—and it remains that way for days on end.
92 Jeb Dunnuck
The 2017 Côte Rôtie Brune Et Blonde showed beautifully. It has the sunny, sexy style of the vintage in its kirsch and black raspberry fruits as well as plenty of spiced meats, dried flowers, and incense-like aromas and flavors. Medium to full-bodied, ripe, elegant, and balanced on the palate, it's already superb yet will develop more classic Côte Rôtie meatiness and spice with 2-4 years of bottle age and drink fabulously for a decade.
92 Wine Spectator
Lively, with a mix of damson plum and bitter cherry notes lined with sanguine and iron hints. An understated style, but this has range and is sneaky long, with dried savory and bay leaf details on the finish. Best from 2021 through 2032.
91 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
As a standard-bearer for the appellation—it is the region's largest-production wine by a good margin—Guigal's 2017 Cote Rotie Brune et Blonde is a solid success. Scents of red raspberries and green olives mingle with hints of violets and cracked pepper on the nose, while the medium-bodied palate is smooth, silky and suave. The finish boasts enough dusty tannin to support medium-term aging, while the complex fruit and savory notes linger elegantly.
