Considered by many to be the benchmark for Crozes-Hermitage, the limited production La Guiraude is Graillot’s tête de cuvée—a barrel selection, made only in vintages where it is felt there are some that exhibit particularly intense and age-worthy personalities. It’s a barrel selection, so the winemaking is the same as the classic Crozes, although the chosen casks are left for a longer aging in both barrel and bottle. The Graillot’s are quick to point out that La Guiraude is not seen as necessarily a better wine than the Domaine’s Crozes, instead it is typically more powerful and can require longer cellaring.
2018 at this address was another low-yielding, warm year that, nonetheless, gifted superb quality. Good rains over the winter had replenished the soils and prepared the vines for the warm summer ahead. When expertly managed, Syrah can thrive in heat and sunshine and 2018 was the kind of vintage where the quality of the terroir (not to mention the skill of the grower) truly counted.
Graillot’s flagship is packed with deep blue fruits, exotic spices, bloody minerality, anise, black olive and ironstone. The mouthfeel is slinky and supple, yet dense and strikes an exquisite balance between powerful fruit, plentiful tannins and perfectly pitched acidity. It’s a wine of quiet power: vin de Garde in the classic Graillot mould—a deep, dark, fleshy La Guiraude, with something of Cornas in the fruit spectrum.
Although I agree with the note below that the wine will age, I find it to be drinking well already. It’s plump, hedonistic and immediately delicious. Strictly speaking, the only time required is to gather your finest friends and organise some appropriate food.