For The Love Of Port

This was quite a fun wine, a pseudo-/quasi-combination of negociant and beneficial if not legal ownership of vineyards in the process of being acquired from 2 other estates. It came from, I believe, two holdings in Les Bessards; one each in L'Hermite, Le Meal, Les Greffieux, Les Murets, and Les Baumes. This has the potential to make a rather complex wine. Starting in 2001, much of the harvest from 4 of the above 6 lieu dits, upon finalization of the title transfers, went into Hermitage Ex Voto. This wine had a delightful bouquet of dark fruit and gingerbread spice, and after about 20 minutes of aeration was rich, supple, elegant, long, and quite delicious. 100% syrah. I believe it was aged for 2 years in oak, of which 50% was new. This gave the wine a nice touch of toastiness and a little vanilla, not overdone at all. 13% alcohol, not even noticeable. It was medium to full bodied, not feeling heavy or over-extracted, with silky tannins. In spite of the negociant labeling and pricing, this could have passed for a premium wine. Was enjoyed in and with a dish very much in the style of Coq au vin, a superb food pairing. Also very good, what was left of the bottle, with black forest cake. Was purchased for $50 a bottle, would buy it again at that price without hesitation. Overall rating excellent plus - perhaps that is conservative. If one can find a bottle, I can't think of a reason to cellar it, this is most likely an ideal time to drink it. Quite a pleasure indeed.

As much as you can find "bargain" Hermitage, I've found Guigal to be one of the only producers I've ever come close to thinking I've tasted value with. Their white Hermitage, at least when I was in undergrad, also seemed to deliver some value in the early/mid 2000s vintages, as at the time they didn't really appreciate on the secondary market like Guigals named wines can, but definitely benefitted from some age.


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How funny... We drank an 1988 Guigal Hermitage Saturday night. Plenty of life in for me, very smooth. Lots of terroir.

I am big fan of Guigal wine, especially older ones.

There have certainly been some interesting comments on this thread. I believe the Guigal Hermitage apart from Ex Voto is still regarded as a pretty good wine in its own right, and in a poor vintage such as 2008, would even include declassified Ex Voto.