FLOAT 100 · Wine · No. 53
E. Guigal Cote-Rotie La Turque 2016
A vineyard of about one hectare that had made celebrated wine before falling silent for nearly 50 years, revived on a father's memory, La Turque in 2016 gave the Guigals what they call a classic vintage.
- Maker
- E. Guigal
- By price in wine
- 66 of 100
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- E. Guigal Cote-Rotie La Turque 2016, 750ml
- Producer
- E. Guigal, Ampuis, northern Rhone, France; founded 1946
- Appellation
- Cote-Rotie
- Vineyard
- La Turque, a single parcel of about 2.5 acres on the Cote Brune, just north of the Cote Blonde
- Blend
- 93% Syrah, 7% Viognier
- Aging
- About 42 months in new oak barrels made at the family's own cooperage; bottled without fining or filtration
- First vintage of La Turque
- 1985
- Harvest
- Late September to mid-October 2016
- Alcohol
- 13%
- US suggested retail
- $525 per bottle, per the US importer
A legendary slope brought back to life
La Turque is the youngest of Guigal's three single-vineyard Cote-Roties, the wines collectors call the 'La Las': La Mouline, La Landonne and La Turque. Each comes from one vineyard on the steep slopes of Cote-Rotie in the northern Rhone, and each was added only when the family acquired or planted a distinctive new site.
La Turque was not a new vineyard. It had produced outstanding wines in the 19th and early 20th centuries; one account says wines from it were made and 'very highly regarded' in 1935. Then the vineyard went unused for wine production for nearly 50 years. The Guigals came to it through the Vidal-Fleury firm, where the founder Etienne Guigal had worked before starting his own business and which the family later bought. Accounts date that purchase to 1980 or to 1984.
Etienne Guigal remembered the quality of the wine La Turque had made in his years at Vidal-Fleury, and his memory led the revival. The family replanted the vineyard in 1980 and 1981. Philippe Guigal, Etienne's grandson, calls it 'the brilliant idea of my dad (Marcel), to give birth again to a legendary terroir of Cote-Rotie.' The first vintage was 1985.
Three generations in Ampuis
Etienne Guigal founded the business in Ampuis in 1946 after 15 years at Vidal-Fleury. His son Marcel has managed it since 1961, and Marcel's son Philippe is now the third-generation winemaker. In 1995 the family bought the Chateau d'Ampuis, a fortified site dating to the 11th century, restored it and made it their headquarters; the barrels for the La La wines are made at the chateau's own cooperage.
The single-vineyard approach was itself a departure. Most Cote-Rotie producers blended grapes from across the appellation. The first Guigal single vineyard, La Mouline, came from a site bought by Etienne in 1963 and was first made in 1966. La Landonne was pieced together by Marcel from small parcels bought from many growers, replanted in 1975, the year Philippe was born, and first made in 1978. La Turque followed in 1985.
Marcel Guigal's fame grew fast in the early and mid 1980s, when the American critic Robert Parker and others heaped praise on the three single-vineyard wines. Parker wrote that in his years of visiting wineries he had 'never seen a producer so fanatical about quality as Marcel Guigal.' That attention lifted Cote-Rotie as a whole, pulling its best wines up to, and sometimes past, the prices of top Hermitage. In 2006 a leading British wine magazine named Marcel its Man of the Year.
Between the brown slope and the blond
Cote-Rotie is divided between two famous hillsides, the Cote Brune and the Cote Blonde. La Turque sits just north of the Cote Blonde, on the Cote Brune, and the importer's technical sheet places it between its siblings in both position and style. Philippe Guigal calls La Mouline, from the Cote Blonde, 'the most Burgundian of the three,' known for elegance and finesse; La Landonne, from the Cote Brune, is a 'big wine, with big tannins.' La Turque, in his telling, is more exotic and spicy, but with a polished sensibility; the importer says it has the virility of the Cote Brune with the subtlety of the Cote Blonde.
The vineyard is about 2.5 acres, roughly one hectare, on a steep slope facing due south. Its soil is siliceous limestone with schist, producing clays rich in iron oxide. The importer's technical sheet claims it is the only vineyard in Cote-Rotie that sees the sun directly from the first rays of morning until dusk.
The vines are mostly Syrah with a small share of Viognier, a white grape that the appellation allows in small amounts alongside Syrah. The Viognier is co-fermented with the Syrah, and in 2016 the blend was 93 percent Syrah and 7 percent Viognier, against 11 percent Viognier in La Mouline and none in La Landonne.
The 2016 vintage
The 2016 season started badly. Spring was cool and rainy, with an early threat of hail and mildew and very late flowering. Fine weather through August and September rescued it, and the Cote-Rotie vineyards were picked between late September and mid-October. Philippe Guigal called 2016 a 'classic' vintage for all three La La wines and expected them to age for 25 years or more.
In the cellar the grapes were punched down, with fermentation and maceration lasting about four weeks in stainless steel vats. The wine then went into new oak barrels from the Chateau d'Ampuis cooperage for 42 months, according to the importer; one critic describes it as 'a full four years' in new French oak. It was bottled with no fining or filtration, at 13 percent alcohol.
Critics who tasted it after release praised its balance more than its power. A leading US critic's publication gave it 98 points in April 2021, calling it 'exquisitely silky and elegant from start to incredibly long finish,' with tannins that 'virtually melt away into the background,' and said it should drink well for at least two decades. Jeb Dunnuck gave it 96 points in November 2020, finding a smoky, meaty style that resembles La Landonne.
Rarity and price
The La La wines are made in tiny amounts. A financial press report put production of each at fewer than 700 cases a year, all aged 42 months in new oak barrels made at Guigal, and quoted Jancis Robinson calling them 'some of the most sought-after bottles in the world.' No bottle count for the 2016 La Turque alone has been published.
They have long been among the most expensive wines of the Rhone. When the 2003 La La wines were released in 2007, they set the record for the most expensive release of any Rhone wine, with bottles retailing for as much as $800. The US importer lists a suggested retail price of $525 for the 2016 La Turque.
In 2024 Philippe Guigal previewed a fourth single-vineyard Cote-Rotie, La Reynarde, from a Cote Brune vineyard planted in stages from 2010 to mark the birth of his twin sons. Its first vintage, 2022, is due in 2026, making La Turque no longer the newest of the family's single vineyards.
The numbers
- Vineyard size
- About 2.5 acres (about 1 hectare)
- Blend
- 93% Syrah, 7% Viognier, co-fermented
- Oak
- About 42 months in new oak from the family cooperage (one critic says four years)
- Alcohol
- 13%
- Bottles produced
- Not published for 2016; each La La wine is reported at fewer than 700 cases a year
- Critic scores
- 98 points (US critic's publication, 2021); 96 points (Jeb Dunnuck, 2020), as reproduced by the US importer
Timeline
Wines from the La Turque slope are made and highly regarded, by one account.
Etienne Guigal founds his business in Ampuis after 15 years at Vidal-Fleury.
Marcel Guigal takes over management.
Etienne buys the La Mouline vineyard.
La Mouline, the first Guigal single-vineyard Cote-Rotie, is made.
La Landonne is replanted, the year Philippe Guigal is born.
First vintage of La Landonne.
The family replants La Turque over 1980 and 1981 after acquiring it through Vidal-Fleury (the Vidal-Fleury purchase is dated 1980 or 1984, depending on the source).
First vintage of La Turque.
The Guigals buy the Chateau d'Ampuis and make it their headquarters.
Marcel Guigal is named a leading British wine magazine's Man of the Year.
The 2003 La La wines set a release-price record for the Rhone, up to $800 a bottle.
Planting begins on La Reynarde, a future fourth single vineyard.
The 2016 La Turque is harvested, between late September and mid-October.
Jeb Dunnuck scores the 2016 La Turque 96 points.
A leading US critic's publication scores the 2016 La Turque 98 points.
Philippe Guigal previews La Reynarde at a New York wine event.
La Reynarde's first vintage, 2022, is due for release.
The world in 2016
The Panama Papers, 11.5 million leaked documents, are published.
The Gotthard Base Tunnel, the world's longest and deepest rail tunnel, opens in Switzerland.
France opens the Euro 2016 football tournament, later won by Portugal.
The United Kingdom votes to leave the European Union.
Pokemon Go is released and breaks sales and revenue records.
The Summer Olympics open in Rio de Janeiro, the first held in South America.
The Chicago Cubs win the World Series for the first time since 1908.
Price record
| Date | Price | Kind |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2026 | $525 | Asking price, not a saleSuggested retail price per 750ml bottle listed by the US importer. |
This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.
By reference price, E. Guigal Cote-Rotie La Turque 2016 is number 66 of 100 in the wine entries of the FLOAT 100. 12 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (53 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.
Did you know
- La Turque had been out of wine production for nearly 50 years before the Guigals replanted it in 1980 and 1981.
- The revival rested on one man's memory: Etienne Guigal remembered how good the wine had been when he worked at Vidal-Fleury.
- The barrels it ages in are made at the Guigals' own cooperage at the Chateau d'Ampuis, an 11th-century site.
- As of 2009 Robert Parker had given Guigal's single-vineyard Cote-Roties 21 perfect 100-point scores, five of them for La Turque, more than for any other single producer.
- Each Guigal single-vineyard wine marks a family milestone: La Landonne was planted the year Philippe was born, and La Reynarde to celebrate the birth of his twin sons.
- A wine writer who tasted the 1985 La Turque blind in 2011 said it left him speechless and gave it 100 points.
How this page is made
- The figure
- One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
- Realized or not
- A realized price is a completed sale. An asking price, an estimate and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
- The story
- Researched from published records and checked fact by fact. Updated Oct 1, 2026.
- Archive
- Oct 5, 2026