Northern Rhône stalwart Guigal has given Matt Walls a preview of releases from its newly acquired Châteauneuf-du-Pape estate. Premium members can read Matt's exclusive report below.
When Philippe Guigal comes to town, you can usually be sure of some top-notch northern Rhônes. But not this time.
We met for lunch on Monday at Galvin at Windows for a rather different tasting. ‘It’s my first time in London for 100% Châteauneuf!’ said Guigal, clutching the first bottlings of his new project: Château de Nalys.
When Domaine Guigal, the kingpin of Côte-Rôtie, bought some Hermitage vineyards in 2001, it raised some eyebrows.The northern Rhône is a long region, with 50km between these two famous appellations. Producers tend to own land in one or the other – rarely both. To buy an estate in the southern Rhône is even more surprising, especially when it’s one of the oldest estates in Châteauneuf-du-Pape.
The name Domaine de Nalys comes from Jacques Nalis, who owned the estate from 1633 and whose family vinified the wine at the estate until the French Revolution.
At this point the property was sold to a local family who managed the estate for seven generations. The last owner, Doctor Dufays, doubled the size of the estate and developed its name internationally. But following the tragic death of his son in 1975, he sold it to the Groupama insurance group.
There had been international interest in the sale of the estate, but Guigal explained that Groupama wanted to keep it in local hands. Despite his northern roots, Guigal insists his neighbours have been welcoming: ‘I’ve been very touched by the reaction of my colleagues in Châteauneuf,’ he says.
Today, it covers a single block of 53ha to the northeast of the town across three lieux-dits: Grande Pierre, Bois Sénéchaux and La Crau.
He has already made considerable changes, perhaps the most noticeable of which is changing the name of the estate from Domaine de Nalys to Château de Nalys.
His first task was to replant 5ha worth of missing vines, and he has also made several new appointments: a new winemaker, a chef de culture and two additional vineyard workers. His next task is to rebuild the vinification and ageing cellars, and in time he hopes to convert the estate to organics.
Another alteration is the architecture of the range. They will now bottle two whites and two reds, but instead of producing a ‘Tradition’ and a ‘Cuvée Spéciale’ like most of his neighbours, Guigal will be pursuing the Bordelais system of a grand vin and a second vin, in both colours.
The sale took 18 months and ownership was transferred in July 2017. As such, the first release of the reds will be the 2016 vintage – vinified by the previous winemaking team but blended by Guigal. The first release of the whites will be the 2017, vinified and blended by the new owners.
Even a week after bottling, the wines were looking good; some very good. Generally speaking, the reds are contemporary and enjoyably drinkable in style without heaviness or excessive oak.
The grand vin is a considerable step up in quality from the second vin, with greater depth of fruit and structure, and avoiding overextraction. The whites, stylistically speaking in a similar vein, were even better.
It’s early days for this newly-baptised estate, but these first bottlings show great promise.
The wines will be available in the UK from November via their agent Fells, prices to be confirmed.
Château de Nalys preview:
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