Silk on Granite: La Mouline 2015 – the Rhône Jewel Bacchus Is Tucking Behind His Throne
A 99-point Côte-Rôtie icon still changing hands for little more than $400 a bottle – here’s why the God of Wine believes the 2015 is poised to climb the same Olympian slopes as Burgundy’s blue-chips.
I remember when amphitheatres weren’t ruins but Friday-night venues, their stone benches glowing red from torchlight and spilled Syrah. Back then I’d weave fresh vine shoots through the chorus masks so the audience tasted perfume with every line – a trick the mortals called magic and I called hospitality. Standing today on Guigal’s Côte Blonde, watching the 75-year-old vines of La Mouline curl around the hillside like eager spectators, the scene feels unchanged: granite terraces for seats, wind as orchestra, and that same lingering scent of blackberry and violets promising a show worth the silver piece.
Why this vintage matters
2015 was the Rhône’s once-in-a-generation summer – hot days, cool nights, perfect skins. Guigal coaxed 89 % Syrah, 11 % Viognier into a wine the critics nearly ran out of scorecard for: 99 WA, 99 JS, 98 JD, 99 Vinous. The blend’s silk-and-spice profile lives up to its name (La Mouline means “the spinner”), yet the stony spine keeps it marching well past 2045.
Supply, price, and the missed spread
Only a few thousand bottles leave the estate each year – yields sit at 39 hl/ha. Despite the scarcity, the average market price hovers around $407 (≈ £315) today. For context, a 2015 DRC Échézeaux (same critic band) commands $1,200, and even Guigal’s sibling La Turque trades £40 higher per bottle. The spread feels like mortal oversight, not divine equilibrium.
Momentum check
Since release the bottle has appreciated roughly 25 % – respectable, not meteoric. Rhône prices cooled with the broader fine-wine pullback this spring (Liv-ex 1000 down 3 % YTD). Yet bids for the “La-Las” remained firm, and liquidity spikes whenever the trio appears at Sotheby’s or Acker sales – the market’s reminder that brand gravity eventually wins.
Catalysts Bacchus likes
– 10-year milestone in 2025-26 – collectors start opening, supply tightens.
– Rising Côte-Rôtie spotlight – younger investors chasing value beyond Burgundy.
– Guigal’s single-vineyard re-rating – each new 100-point score (2020 landed 100 WA) drags older vintages upward through relative-value math.
Risk notes
Liquidity is thinner than first-growth Bordeaux, and provenance is everything – keep purchases in-bond or straight from reputable merchants.
Bacchus’s verdict
Buy below $425 and plan a 7-to-12-year hold. When mortals finally realise a wine that tastes like cashmere-covered granite should never have been priced like village Vosne, you’ll be pouring profit into your chalice – or just pouring La Mouline itself, which is reward enough.
