The E. Guigal estate was founded in 1946 by Etienne Guigal in Ampuis, an ancient village in the Côte-Rôtie appellation of the Northern Rhône. Etienne arrived in the Côte-Rôtie when he was just 14 years old, and famously worked 67 vintages for Vidal-Fleury, finishing up as cellar master before branching out on his own. Today the headquarters of the estate is Château D’Ampuis, which they acquired in 1995.The motto of the Château is “No Pains, No Gains”, and now three generations later, headed up by Etienne’s son Marcel, and Etienne’s grandson Phillipe, that hard work has paid off because Guigal is recognised globally as one of the leading names of the Rhône. They make wines from all over the Rhône Valley. 150 hectares of owned vineyards are under vine farmed organically on some of the finest sites in the region; Côte-Rôtie (Côte Brune and Côte Blonde), Hermitage, Crozes-Hermitage, Condrieu, Saint-Joseph and Châteauneuf-du-Pape – where Château Nalys, acquired in 2017, is Guigal’s only owned site in the Southern Rhône. Additionally Guigal are first-rate négociants and supplement their holdings with fruit from long-term grower partners. Apart from Château Nalys, all their wines from the Southern Rhône appellations are sourced in this way, and they pay well above the standard price to ensure the highest quality fruit is obtained. Guigal are one of the last producers to harvest. They prefer to pick late to allow the fruit to come to full phenolic maturity. Yields are kept low and they take little or no intervention in the cellar. Vinification is traditional with long ageing resulting in complex wines with integrated tannins. In fact their top wines undergo distinctly long maturation. It is hugely expensive to hold vintages back, but Guigal want their customers to be able to enjoy their wines on release. Since 2003 they have had their own cooperage at Château D’Ampuis, and the cooper makes on average 18 barrels a week to Guigal’s satisfaction, dry ageing the oak for three years – around double the time of most cooperages. Guigal are one of the most awarded estates in the world. Their celebrated Côte-Rôtie trio La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque, collectively known as the La Las, have scored a perfect 100 Robert Parker score for many vintages. By 1984 Guigal had come full circle and bought Château Vidal-Fleury, where their story first started its journey to greatness – their wines are quite simply at the pinnacle of the Rhône Valley.