Most likely just as good, with additional freshness and focus, the 2010 Ermitage Ex-Voto offers up an incredibly pure, fresh and nuanced bouquet of creme de cassis, licorice, crushed stone and spring flowers that flows to a full-bodied, detailed and yet gorgeously rich and textured palate. A serious barrel sample, with massive mid-palate depth and concentration, this beauty will require patience, yet should have an easy 3-4 decades of longevity. Drink: 2013 - 2053
-Jeb Dunnuck, Wine Advocate #210 Dec 2013

Founded in the small Côte-Rôtie village of Ampuis by Etienne Guigal in 1946, E.Guigal is one of the Rhône valley's best known producers. Ever keen to improve and develop, the estate began making its own barrels in 2003, and it now makes up to 850 each year. Produced only in the best vintages, the grapes for the Ex-Voto are sourced from some of the steepest slopes in Hermitage, from vines between 40 and 90 years old. The wine is aged for 42 months in new oak before release. Christian Honorez: Lots of sweetness from the very ripe fruit but also from the elevage. Oak and coconut notes first; firm structure needing a long time to integrate. A modern style that will reward long ageing. Tanguy Martin: Evolution marked on the nose with a hint of dry ash and cigar box. Full, generous and charming with excellent balance of oak and fruits. Has a long life ahead. Matt Walls: Great tannic grip, with marked oak on the nose and palate, strong clove element to the fruit. Very grippy, very persistent tannic squeeze that grips the fruit. Very long - will be good when it's ready.

The 2010 Hermitage Ex Voto continues to top out on my scale. This extraordinary Hermitage has more minerality and delineation than the 2009, as well as overflowing aromas and flavors of creme de cassis, jammy blackberries, violets, graphite and wood smoke. Massively concentrated, full-bodied, decadent, layered and sexy, it needs short-term cellaring but should be just about immortal in the cellar.