1988 E. Guigal "La Mouline" Côte-Rôtie

Utterly captivating and seductive, the otherworldly 1988 E. Guigal Côte-Rôtie La Mouline is the most dense and concentrated of the ‘88 E. Guigal Single Vineyards, possessing nuanced and sexy aromatics of spiced black fruits, licorice, bacon fat, leather, and meat. While both the La Landonne and La Turque show a touch angular and edgy, this is fat and full, showing amazing depth and concentration, a jaw dropping, rich texture, and a seamless, perfect finish. Wine simply does not get any better. I can only speculate, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see this continue to drink well for another 2 decades. However, my motto of 'if you got em, drink em' still holds.

Among so many exceptional La Mouline's, this is one of the most profound. At the same time, it is atypically backward, and has been slow to evolve. Still dark purple-colored, with only a hint of the flamboyant Mouline aromatics, this thick, super concentrated, full-bodied, tannic La Mouline is loaded with fruit, massive, and full-bodied, but still in need of time to fully shed its cloak of tannin. It is likely to be the longest-lived La Mouline since the 1978 and 1969. (RP)