Guigal Chateau d'Ampuis Cote Rotie (1.5 Liter Magnum) 2015

Professional Ratings

• 98 Decanter
  Scheduled to be bottled just after this visit, the 2015 Côte Rôtie Château D'Ampuis reveals a deep ruby/purple color as well as an extraordinary bouquet of smoked black fruits, caramelized blackcurrants, leady herbs, ground pepper, and earth. It's deep, rich, massively concentrated, and a powerhouse of a wine that’s going to need bottle age, but wow, what a wine! Range: 96-98
• 97 Jeb Dunnuck

  I loved the 2015 Côte Rôtie Château D'Ampuis from barrel, and this beauty does not disappoint from bottle. Coming from a handful of top sites, it’s made in the same fashion as the top La Las, seeing four years in new barrels. Deep purple-hued with a classic bouquet of black raspberries, jammy blackberries, acacia flowers, vanilla bean, and spice, it hits the palate with full-bodied richness, a rounded, expansive mid-palate, sweet tannins, and a great, great finish. Savvy readers will stock up on this beauty. Give it 3-5 years and enjoy over the following two decades or more.

• 97 Wine Spectator

  A gorgeous core of steeped raspberry, boysenberry and fig fruit gives this a showy side. A lush structure flows underneath, while long echoes of warm ganache, black tea and espresso linger. The fruit keeps this in the suave and alluring camp overall, though there's plenty of grip for cellaring. Best from 2022 through 2042.

• 95 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  The 2015 Cote Rotie Chateau d'Ampuis is remarkably dense and concentrated, packed with dark fruit and rich tannins. It's full-bodied and supple on the mid-palate, adding hints of vanilla, espresso and dried spices on the long, velvety finish. Give it another 3-4 years in the cellar, then drink it over the next two decades. Rating: 95+

• 95 James Suckling

  Impressively deep aromas of graphite, tar, dark plums, blackberries, chocolate, pepper and all manner of baking spices. The palate has a super rich and attractive feel with smooth tannins, saturated in blackberry and chocolate flavors. This has such dramatic depth and youthful power still. Try from 2023.

• 93 Wine & Spirits

  This is a blend of fruit from seven of Guigal’s old-vine parcels in Côte-Rôtie, fermented in stainless-steel tanks for four weeks, then aged in new oak barrels for 38 months. The wood influence is strident right now, in both spicy, smoky scents as well as in grippy, dry tannins. But the fruit is ripe and rich enough to push against those wood tannins, promising to overtake them in time.