The 2019 Côte-Rôtie “Brune et Blonde” bottling from Maison E. Guigal is an excellent young wine. The cépages this year is ninety-six percent syrah and four percent viognier, with the wine aged for three years in small oak barrels. Fifty percent of the casks are new. The wine comes in at fourteen percent octane in 2019 and offers up a superb bouquet of red and black raspberries, smoked meats, a touch of hazelnut, pepper, a beautiful base of soil tones, woodsmoke and gently spicy oak. On the palate the wine is pure, full-bodied and beautifully soil-driven in personality, with a fine core of fruit, lovely focus and grip, fine-grained tannins and a long, complex and seamlessly balanced finish. This is one of the best vintages of Brune et Blonde that I have tasted from the Guigal family in several years!

Intense nutmeg and cinnamon, this has generous Christmas spicing. Medium- to full-bodied, certainly very plump, and the spicing really remains strong on the palate and through into the cola and cinnamon laced finish. No great complexity promised at this early stage; wait for the oak to integrate and for the wine to harmonise. Aged for 36 months minimum in barriques, 50% new. (MW)

I always love the Brune et Blonde cuvée from Guigal, and their 2019 is no exception. The 2019 Côte Rôtie Brune Et Blonde is certainly the most approachable and ready-to-go of the Côte Rôties and has a pretty, classic nose of red and black raspberries, ground pepper, and spice, with some meaty nuances. It's medium to full-bodied, balanced, and just incredibly satisfying. Drink bottles over the coming 10-15 years.