Wine Advisor
Etienne Guigal, Cote Rotie La Landonne 2003
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Description
Côte-Rôtie « La Landonne » completes this famous trilogy. An immense and pure wine with intense flavours and deep colour, this is the perfect wine for ageing.
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Ruby-red. Powerful, brooding blackberry and creme de cassis aromas are further deepened by suggestions of dark chocolate, espresso and tar. Huge, mouthfilling and sweet, with an amazingly dense texture and superconcentrated kirsch and blackcurrant flavors complemented by baking spices and smoked meat. The impressively long finish shows great depth and powerful tannic spine. Hands off this monster for a long, long time.
Reviewed by: Josh Raynolds
Dense ruby color. Room-filling, pungent nose offers an almost surreal display of Cote-Rotie aromatics: fresh blackcurrant, blackberry, dark plum and cherry give way to earthier but very sweet tones of fresh tobacco, licorice candy, black cardamom, espresso and floral oils. Extremely viscous, even oily on the palate, with densely packed dark berry and floral flavors boasting great depth and thrust. Finishes with sweet but powerful tannic structure and lingering spice notes.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Dee p, saturated ruby. Knockout nose combines black fruits, gunflint, iron, licorice and brown spices. Like liquid velvet in the mouth, with wild flavors of blackberry, black cherry, roast coffee, licorice and gunflint. Extremely dense and concentrated, finishing with great aromatic persistence.
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
The 2003 Cote Rotie la Landonne continues to blow me away every time I taste it and it's a desert island wine for me. One of the stars of this extreme vintage, it offers sensational levels of fruit and decadence, perfumed, intense aromatics, beautiful freshness and a to-die-for texture and finish. Still youthful, with masses of sweet tannin, it's nevertheless a a heavenly drink today.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Dense purple to the rim with a nose of graphite, creosote, earth, olives, and black, black, black fruits, the primordial, full-bodied, monumental 2003 Cote Rotie La Landonne is amazing stuff. I suspect this is more akin to a dry vintage port than most Cote Roties ever tend to be, but the purity, the richness, the texture, the length are all out of this world. This wine does need some patience on the part of its purchasers, probably five years, more likely 8-10, but then one of the world’s most compelling elixirs will be at its peak for another 20-30+ years. Importer: Fred Ek and Patrick Will, Ex Cellars Wine Agencies, Solvang, CA; tel. (805) 686-9153
Reviewed by: Jeb Dunnuck
Last of the Cote Roties, the 2003 Cote Rotie La Landonne has the most classic feel, with searing minerality, liquid smoke and bacon fat-like aromas being carried by massive amounts of inky dark fruits. Closer in style to the La Torque, with a powerful, structured profile, it nevertheless has off the charts texture, depth and purity, all of which allow it to thrill even now. It should be the longest lived of the four Cote Roties. Robert Parker has been singing the praises of the wines of Marcel and Philippe Guigal for years now, and I’m happy to pick up the torch going forward. In 2003, harvest here occurred between the August 21 and 31, with yields down over 60%. The wines took five weeks to ferment dry, were never acidified, and spent roughly 48 months in new oak prior to bottling. What comes out of the bottle now is sheer magic.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
This is a prodigious effort that may eclipse any other vintage Guigal has ever produced! It possesses similarities to the 1999, but it is even higher in alcohol, more unctuously textured, thicker, and longer. Encapsulate the character of this single vineyard in a top year, add more depth, intensity, alcohol, and power, and this describes this freakishly rich 2003. It will be released after spending 42 months in 100% new oak casks, so consumers will have to wait until 2008 to purchase this stupendous gem. This 2003 is literally off the charts, as are many of the northern Rhones in this vintage. Interestingly, the La Landonne includes 100% stems. La Landonne should last 45-50 years. This is the stuff of modern day legends. As for what it actually tastes like, just take my notes for any of the great vintages and add more power, glycerin, alcohol, tannin, and concentration ... that about defines this 2003! Importer: Fred Ek and Patrick Will, Ex Cellars Wine Agencies, Solvang, CA; tel. (805) 686-9153
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The 2003 Cote Rotie La Landonne (the only cuvee to include 100% stems) is ferociously tannic and backward. Hints of roast beef, bacon fat, creosote, graphite, and dried herbs as well as huge power, texture, and depth are found in this monster wine. Brooding but enormous, it should hit its prime in 10 years and last for four decades. Marcel and Philippe Guigal, never content to rest on their already impressive credentials, announced that in the future, they expect to release another single vineyard Cote Rotie from a 3.7 acre parcel in the Viria vineyard on the Cote Brune. The first vintage or two will probably be added to the Chateau d’Ampuis. If the potential turns out to be as exceptional as they believe, lovers of these great wines will have a fourth single vineyard Cote Rotie called Viria to contemplate. There are many admirable things about Marcel Guigal, but most significant is that he has been a qualitative locomotive that has brought attention to the Rhone Valley, and has raised the quality bar for the entire region. More importantly, he realizes that most consumers will have access only to his least expensive wines from the Cotes du Rhone, so he has made every effort to continue to increase the quality of both his white and red Cotes du Rhones. His Cotes du Rhone whites have jumped in quality as he has settled on a general blend of approximately 50% Viognier and the rest Roussanne, Marsanne, Clairette, Bourboulenc, and Grenache Blanc. Importer: Fred Ek and Patrick Will, Ex Cellars Wine Agencies, Solvang, CA; tel. (805) 686-9153
About the Producer
In 1946, Etienne Guigal founded Château Guigal in the village of Ampuis, the winemaking heart of the Rhône. The village of Ampuis is rich in history, with vineyards that are over 2,400 years old and buildings that still date back to Roman times, and it was here that Etienne Guigal arrived in 1923 at the age of 14. He decided to devote himself to winemaking, which he did for more than 67 years. In 1961, the young Marcel Guigal took over the management of the estate from his father. Thanks to Marcel's efforts, Château Guigal began to acquire some well-known wineries and grew in strength.
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