Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016 - 70

TOP 100 WINERIES 2016

F RANCE
XXXXXXXX
L OIRE

Domaine des Baumard

F RANCE
XXXXXXXX
R H o NE

E. Guigal
Founded: 1946
Founded:
XXXX
Winemaker/viticulturist:
Owner/winemaker/viticulturist:
Philippe Guigal
XXXXXXXXX
Owner: TheXXXXXXXXXXXX
Guigal family
Acres owned: XXX
150
Cases
XXXXXX
Annualproduced:
production:
Estate
grown:
600,000
cases 100%
Importer:
Xxxxx5%
Xxxxx, Xxxxx, XX
Estate grown:
Website:
Importer:xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Vintus, Pleasantville, NY
Website: guigal.com

Founded: 1634
Founded:
XXXX
Owner/winemaker/viticulturist:
Owner/winemaker/viticulturist:
Florent
Baumard
XXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXX
Acres
owned:
124; 80 planted
Acres owned:
XXX
Annual
production:
Cases
produced:
XXXXXX
5,000 to
15,000 cases
Estate grown: 100% for still wines;
Importer:
Xxxxx, Xxxxx, XX
50
to 100%Xxxxx
for sparkling
Website: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
Importer:
Vintus, Pleasantville, NY
Website: baumard.fr

Florent
XxxxxxxBaumard
Xxxxxx

Xxxxxxx
Philippe Xxxxxx
Guigal

In a Loire divided between funky natural wine producers and commercial players, Domaine des Baumard takes a different route, honing technical brilliance
in chenin blanc that shines with fruit clarity yet remains grounded in schist.

Complementing their legendary vineyards in Côte Rôtie, the Guigal's grower
connections allow them to produce exceptional wines in nearly every appellation, from Côtes-du-Rhône quaffs to brooding Gigondas.

Ancestry: Born into a family with vineyard holdings that date back
four centuries, and raised at a 17th-century manor in Rochefort sur
Loire, Florent Baumard learned to taste wine with his father, who
taught viticulture and oenology in Angers from 1955 to 1970. "My
father always pushed me to do something else," he says, but after
studying literature, he went on to get his own degree in viticulture
and oenology, then worked in Bordeaux's Entre-Deux-Mers region,
and in Burgundy at Drouhin, before joining Domaine des Baumard
in 1987. The domaine includes half of the Clos du Papillon and all of
the Clos St-Yves.

Northern Roots: Etienne Guigal started his winery in 1946, after 22
years with the Rhône négociant Vidal-Fleury. He set up shop in
Ampuis, and focused on the vineyards of Côte Rôtie, which were
rapidly being abandoned; by the late 1950s, less than a quarter of
the land was planted to vines. Today, thanks in part to his work and
that of his son, Marcel, who took over in 1961, Côte Rôtie is one of
the region's most illustrious appellations. It is the source of Guigal's
three cult classics, La Turque, La Mouline and La Landonne, as well
as the Château d'Ampuis, from vineyards surrounding the LaLas. In
2011, the rich red fruit of Château d'Ampuis is restrained by the deep
mineral tones and schisty tannins that give Côte Rôtie its reputation
for long-lived reds.

Innovation: "Chenin doesn't mature all at once where we are," Baumard has found, so he makes several passes through the vineyards,
selecting younger-vine fruit for his sparkling wine or lesser dry whites
and targeting vines between 35 and 45 years old for his Savennières.
In 1989, he found that one pressing was different from the rest and
kept it separate. "My father said, 'Leave it on its own,' so
that's what we did," he recalls. That wine became his first
Trie Spéciale, a dry, late-harvest selection he only produces when the vintage warrants it. He started bottling
his wines under Stelvin closures in 2003, after a bout with
cork taint in this top selection-and after a fishing trip
with friends who brought along some 20-year-old chassellas under screwcap. His 2014, the first vintage of Trie
Spéciale since 2010, cleanly presents the aristocratic
profile of a great Savennières in scents of Bosc pear and
honey and a long line of schist acidity.
Pure Fruit: "My dream is to put the best fruit in the
bottle. Just the fruit," Baumard says, a goal he comes
close to achieving in a wine like his 2011 Quarts de
Chaume. The wine is pure apricot and quince, from
the aroma straight through to the honeyed finish, a dense late-harvest chenin that needs years to
evolve. -J.G.

TOP-SCORING WINES

Strong Relationships: Over time, the Guigals have acquired 150 acres
of choice land in the Northern Rhône. They've also maintained an
extraordinary bond with growers up and down the valley. Even today,
under the guidance of third-generation Philippe Guigal, the firm has
no written contracts; the Guigal team prefers to taste their
way through the vineyards every year, buying the best
fruit. The quality they procure is clear in the 2010 Châteauneuf-du-Pape. A blend off of vines averaging 45 years
old, it's a complex beauty, with notes of smoke, herbs and
baking spices weaving through cherry-liqueur flavors.
Viognier in its Right Place: Old-vine fruit, long, slow
vinifications with ambient yeasts and long barrel
aging contribute to the complexity of Guigal's wines
across the portfolio, including the whites. While nine
months of aging in new oak leave a noticeable mark
on the 2013 Condrieu La Doriane, the wine quickly
turns toward fleshy stone-fruit flavor. Round and
fresh, this is great white wine from viognier grown in
the right place-in this case, steep granite hillsides
that likely would have been planted to peaches had
the Guigals not come along. -T.Q.T.

TOP-SCORING WINES

XX '11
94
'XX Quarts
Xxxxxxxx
de Xxxxxxx
ChaumeXxxxx
$80 (4/16)
$XX (XX/XX)

93
$59$XX
(2/16)
XX '10
'XX Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx Xxxxx
(XX/XX)

XX '14
94
'XX Savennières
Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx
Trie Spéciale
Xxxxx $XX
$55(XX/XX)
(4/16)

93
(2/16)
XX '11
'XX Gigondas
Xxxxxxxx $40
Xxxxxxx
Xxxxx $XX (XX/XX)

XX '11
90
'XX Coteaux
XxxxxxxxduXxxxxxx
Layon Clos
Xxxxxde$XX
Sainte
(XX/XX)
Catherine $55 (4/16)

93
ChâteauXxxxx
d'Ampuis
$180 (2/16)
XX '11
'XX Côte-Rôtie
Xxxxxxxx Xxxxxxx
$XX (XX/XX)

WINE & SPIRITS

BUYING GUIDE 2017

http://www.baumard.fr http://www.guigal.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Wine & Spirits - Winter 2016