Product Description
94 points Wine Spectator
"Very focused, with a lovely beam of lightly steeped red currant, bitter cherry and plum fruit flavors that glides atop singed cedar, black tea and dried star anise notes. The long finish is very fine-grained. A gorgeous wine. Best from 2016 through 2027. 400 cases imported."
94 points Wine Enthusiast
"The essence of the appellation smokes out from the glass, offering hints of cracked pepper, bacon, clove and leather. It's reasonably full-bodied for Côte Rôtie, with feral, smoked-meat flavors, ample spice and plenty of the concentrated plummy fruit. Tannins are silky, making this approachable now, but likely capable of aging well for at least 10–15 years." *Editors’ Choice*
#97 Wine Enthusiast Top 100 of 2017
93 points Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The 2011 Cote Rotie Chateau d’Ampuis has closed down slightly since last year, yet still offers a terrific perfume of cured meats, vanilla bean, sweet black currants and graphite to go with medium to full-bodied, ripe, sexy style on the palate. I doubt it will truly close down and would happily enjoy bottles anytime over the coming 15 or more years."
93 points Wine & Spirits
"A selection from vineyards surrounding the LaLas (La Mouline, La Londonne and La Turque), this is surprisingly restrained given its four-week maceration and 38 months in new barrels. The time in wood has brough a warm caramel richness to the berry fruit; it also smoothed out the tannins, which stretch through the wine like tense muscles, long and lean. The wine is giving enough to drink with pleasure right now, and sure to last well for a decade."
Vinous Reverie Notes
What a story. Etienne Guigal, working in the cellars of a local winery, is swimming in the Rhone river off the docks near the Chateau d’Ampuis. He meets a lovely girl, who works as a maid at the Chateau d’Ampuis, a historic property whose oldest sections date to the 11th century, where Kings of France have visited and slept, and symbol of the town of Ampuis and the world-renowned Cote-Rotie vineyard area for ten centuries. In 1995, 7 years after Etienne passed away, his son Marcel Guigal purchased the Chateau, and spent 11 years restoring it, with over 100 people working on the project, all overseen by France’s Chief Architect of Historic Monuments. Early on, when the Guigal family learned that there was at one time a wine produced with the Chateau d’Ampuis name, and they were able to trace the vineyards that were used in this original wine, they decided to produce an exceptional wine that would showcase the best that Cote-Rotie has to offer. Today Château d’Ampuis is made from 7 exceptional vineyards from both sides of Côte-Rôtie, the Côte Blonde and the Côte Brune, and vines averaging 50 years og age. These are exceptional vineyards, and in fact every vineyard is adjoining one of the three Guigal single vineyard crus, La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque. The vineyards are in the Côte Blonde as follows: Le Clos, La Garde, and La Grande Plantée; and in the Côte Brune: La Pommière, Le Pavillon Rouge, Le Moulin and La Viria. Ampuis is composed of 93% Syrah and 7% Viognier, and aged in the same manner as the Guigal single-vineyard crus, with a 4 week maceration and alcoholic fermentation followed by 38 months in new barrels that are all made at the estate. Tasting Notes: The hallmark of Chateau d’Ampuis is an unbelievably seductive perfume full of sweet black fruits and spices, and an elegance despite the intense concentration of fruit (prunes, blackberry) and tannin. Chateau d’Ampuis defines what a great Côte-Rôtie should be with its beautiful balance, muscular complexity and length.
