Philippe Guigal
A boot camp for leadership
Côte-Rôtie, the "roasted coast" in the Northern Rhône, bakes in the midday July sun as if in an oven, and Philippe Guigal looks in his element as he climbs among the centennial vines of La Mouline.
"Always worked organically, never a gallon of herbicides, no fertilizers," he says of the vineyard site purchased by his grandfather 42 years ago. Today it produces a collectible red made famous by Philippe's father, Marcel, 60, who is arguably the most influential vintner in the Rhône Valley today.
Philippe, 28, is determined to maintain his father's high standards. Slim and dark-haired, he has followed Marcel like a shadow for the past few years, surviving the boot camp-like conditions of the elder Guigal's workaholic schedule.
At merchant house E. Guigal, the office opens at the crack of dawn. "My father starts at 5:15 a.m. every day of the week. I am lazy so I start at 6:15 a.m.," says the younger Guigal, who works 13-hour days, weekends included.
Philippe may appear young for co-managing the family-owned wineries, Château d'Ampuis and E. Guigal, but all decisions are made by father and son together. "That's the rule of the house," says Marcel.
Every day around noon, Philippe and Marcel descend to the cool cellars for a one-and-half hour tasting session. They sample wines made from their own or growers' vineyards. As merchants, they buy grapes and wine from many appellations in the Northern and Southern Rhône, and produce about 416,000 cases a year. Their 94 acres of vineyards in Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, St.-Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage and Condrieu are projected to produce 15,600 cases when the vines mature in a few years.
Even as a youth, Philippe knew he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his father and grandfather Etienne, who founded E. Guigal in 1946. Based in Ampuis, a town in Northern Rhône at the foot of the Côte-Rôtie vineyards, E. Guigal reports annual sales of $32 million.
When Marcel was 17, his father, Etienne, became blind for 10 months. "I dropped out of school and suddenly found myself heading a company four years before I gained legal majority. It was horrible," Marcel recalls.
With that in mind, Marcel pressed his own son to complete his studies at breakneck speed. Smart and studious, the young Guigal complied. He completed high school at age 16, young for France. He entered Lyon University, studied biochemistry and graduated precociously at 20, while also working at the family wine business.
When E. Guigal's new computerized winery was inaugurated in 1993, Philippe, then 18, was put in charge of the computers and the crop coming into the winery. "I've a papa who can't find the start button on a computer," says the general director, who speaks fluent English and is well-versed in the Internet and with the company's high-tech equipment.
Next, he studied enology in Dijon; interned at renowned St.-Emilion growth Château Cheval-Blanc; and earned a master's degree from Paris-based Office International de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV), taking courses at University of California, Davis, and touring 17 countries as part of the curriculum. He took over winemaking at E. Guigal at age 22, while still a student, and returned permanently to the winery two years later.
Suave and formal, Guigal seems to enjoy a smooth relation with his rough-hewn father. They vacation together. They collect antique furniture and share a weakness for sports cars. An only son, Philippe lives in his parent's house next to the winery, enjoying mother Bernadette's cooking. "I am unable to feed myself," the bachelor says with a self-mocking smile.
Philippe is involved in all facets of the business. The winery is able to extract more tannins, color and flavors thanks to the changes initiated by his son, says Marcel. Working with his father has matured the son beyond his age. Few can boast the kind of mentor, education and vineyards that Philippe Guigal can. Perhaps he was born a leader, but certainly he was bred to become one.
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