2018 E. Guigal Saint-Joseph Vignes des Hospices
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Tasting notes
Deep, shimmering violet. A greatly perfumed bouquet evokes ripe, spice- and smoke-accented black and blue fruits, candied violet and olive paste, along with vanilla and licorice notes that build as the wine opens up. Offers alluringly sweet, deeply concentrated and mineral-accented cassis, blueberry, violet pastille and espresso flavors that show superb depth and energy as well. Finishes smoky, broad and impressively long, with steadily mounting tannins and lingering florality. Aged for 30 months in new oak barrels.
Critic scores
Average Score
Richard Hemming MW, jancisrobinson.com
Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
More reviews and scores
First made in 1998 (and 2001 was the first vintage made completely under Guigal) and from a gorgeous hillside vineyard located just behind the village of Tournon, facing Hermitage, the 2018 Saint Joseph Vignes De L'Hospice offers a vibrant, crystalline bouquet of cassis, cracked pepper, violets, and liquid rock-like minerality. I always find a Hermitage-like austerity in this wine, but the 2018 has wonderful ripeness, full-bodied richness, silky tannins (but plenty of them), and a great finish. Give it 4-5 years and enjoy over the following 15+.
After 30 months in oak, the 2018 Saint-Joseph Vignes de l'Hospice has emerged into bottle as one sexy bacon-scented beast. Add black olives and black cherries, and this is one pretty compelling wine, in a rich, savory style. Full-bodied and concentrated, it finishes silky and long, with a decade or more of evolution ahead of it.