"His great joy was to share with as many people as possible the emotion and pleasures of tasting wine. Your marvelous grandfather smiled upon each bottle and you thought: how he loves his cellar. Well no, my son, it was us he loved because, dearest man, he knew that these rare wines, made to reach a great old age, would not be for him to drink."

Etienne Guigal founded his winery in 1946 among the 2400 year old vines in the village of Ampuis. In 1961, he fell ill, so his son Marcel Guigal took the reins. The domain thrived under Marcel Guigal, who in the 1980’s began collecting top accolades from the most respected critics in the wine world. Robert Parker was one of the first to admire Guigal's top Cote-Rotie wines. These were La Landonne, La Mouline, and La Turque or the “La, Las”, as devotees refer to them. In 2003, the “La, Las” were the most expensive Rhone wines released in history ($800 a bottle). Robert Parker states, "In the past 26 years I have spent visiting wineries and vignerons, I have never seen a producer so fanatical about quality as Marcel Guigal.”

Marcel became Decanter Magazine Man of the Year in 2006, due in large part to his dedication and hard work in the Rhone Valley. The attention to detail Marcel brought to Guigal spread throughout the region, which in turn increased popularity and interest in Rhone wines. Top vintages to look out for include 1991, 1998, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2001."

Guigal's 1999 Chateauneuf du Pape (85% Grenache) is a sweet, aromatic effort displaying notes of kirsch liqueur, Havana tobacco, cedar, dried Provencal herbs, and hints of pepper as well as balsam wood.