What do you open on Monday night for the NCAA football championship? Usually for me it would be a beer. But since I had a bottle of 2019 Guigal Hermitage I wanted to taste, I went with that instead, as I really wanted some lamb rip chops & wild rice after the gym. The Guigal domaine was founded in 1946 by Etienne Guigal in Ampuis; a small, ancient village at the heart of the Côte-Rôtie appellation. Their most known wines are their La La’s which are extremely collectible. Less known is their wonderful Hermitage which offers great value & ageability in my opinion. Now it won’t be mentioned in the same sentence as Chave or Paul Jaboulet Aine, but it also costs a lot less which is good if you can’t afford those producers. The soil type consists of limestone clay and silt soil & Sandy gravel. It is 100% Syrah and see 36 months of barrel ageing with 50% being new. The average vine age is 30 years, & roughly 35,000 bottles are produced each year.

This wine came out swinging right out of the gate, unlike the OSU defense which had my wife concerned. I wasn’t as you never know what’s going to happen in the first minutes of the game. The wine offered everything I like about Syrah. Black & blue fruits, with graphite, cooked meats, spice, & a savory quality on the nose. The palate offered dark berries, graphite, some subtle spice with cooked meats, bigger tannins, medium acidity & some nicely intregrated oak on the finish in a full body. The 15% abv wasn’t even noticeable. While this is very enjoyable now, it will only get better with age. I enjoyed this wine & the lamb chops a lot as they were a perfect match. I also enjoyed the game as OSU won.