Charming wine devoid of fruit:1975 Gruaud Larose

The style of 1975 Bordeaux wine makes the wines difficult to enjoy today. The majority of the wines are hard, charmless, steely and the tannins are rustic, as well as obtrusive

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I really like the 1975 Gruaud Larose. It is so intriqueing that it is in a sort of delicate balance while being devoid of any fruit. The nose is captivating.
I do not belive it will improve but it is in a nice stage now, if you like the leanness.
The 2001 Schloß Lieser Niederberg Helden Auslese ** is so great and disciplined, keeping the very attractive fruit in veins resulting in a truely balanced Auslese.

Fwiw, I think the slow-o approach helps bring out the fruit in such wines. (i.e. no decanting, just pull the cork hours ahead of time and allow to slowly breathe. I take out a small initial taste usually too, to increase the surface area, and get a “starting point” taste too). I have some '75s left myself but haven’t pulled any corks recently.

Thanks
I forgot to mention that the bottle was opened 4 hours in advance, and i took a little sip. The fill was fine. Cork in super condition.
The wine was followed over 2 hours during dinner, and it was a great experience despite the lack of fruit. I am not used to this kind of wine.

I’ve had the '75 Gruaud Larose 2 or 3 times in the last couple of years – mine were drinkable but not very interesting. Other 1975s I’ve had were worst (Lascombes – even seemingly perfect looking bottles were stripped of fruit and offering very little of anything else) or better (every '75 Beychevelle I’ve had has been good, and 2 or 3 were very good). The best I’ve had is Pichon Lalande – very complex fruit, leather, camphor, mint – still going strong for 40+ years. I’ve never had the highly touted '75 La Mission, and I know the Right Bank has perhaps the strongest offerings for 1975. It’s a vintage we’ll never see the likes of again – big, hard, tannic wines that needed 30+ years to come around (and many never did) - this kind of wine would clearly be economic suicide in today’s world.

I opened a 1975 Leoville-Barton a few weeks ago. It was at the same time a bit over the hill and still tannic. It definitely showed fruit, and classic cedar box. I’ll make it a point to try a Beychevelle again soon.

P Hickner