Blanquito may call for another five years, but I think this wine is just starting to enter its drinking window. Sure, it’s still young, but an hour of decanting did wonders. As so often in solid years, this is pure, text-book Pauillac. Cassis, Number 2 elementary school pencil, cigar box and dry earth. Gorgeously pure fruit on the palate, really excellent range from ripe dark fruits to tart berry fruits, giving the wine a rounded, lifted feel, if that makes sense. Excellent depth on the palate. A moderately powerful wine, tannins resolving, caressing finish. Delicious, but more upside with time.
As an aside, I just checked out CT notes, and was amused to see Leve’s take on this wine. Our notes are close to identical, as is our score. Goes to show the convergence of tastes when it comes to classic Bordeaux. Classic never goes out of style. Jeff has a great write-up on his site on the long history of this esteemed Chateau. Check it out.
GPL still represents one of the best values in Left Bank reds. Oddly they seem to make solid wines in “epic” vintages and over-perform in cooler years.
Can’t really think of a vintage since 1996 that wasn’t enjoyable, maybe 1997 and 2003?
It is rustic. But Robert likes rustic more than most… Hence my 93 Pts, instead of higher marks. Should you wish to see my note, use the link in the thread. The wine is not likely to soften, it is always going to have that character, but it will gain additional nuances with more time.
Nice note on the GPL Robert. Offers a lot of pleasure now, with a promise of additional complexity down the road.
I also agree with the Pichon Lalande comparison. Pichon is more elegant than GPL, regardless of its seam of green (which I regard as a plus), and I usually prefer it to GPL.
Sounds yummy. I’ve never had GPL, though had an opportunity to pick up bottles of both the '03 and '05 from Raeburn in Edinburgh last year, as part of a golf trip in East Lothian and Fife.
Passed as they sounded awfully young. Ended up with a '96 Armailhac instead, which was fantastic. Sounds like I need to bite the bullet and find some mature GPL as well.
I must admit that while I like both GPL and Pichon Lalande, I don’t think of either (or any other Pauillac) as being really that elegant. Bordeaux, generally, to me is a more powerful and less elegant wine, but even within Bordeaux I think of some of the wines of Margaux and Pessac-Léognan as being the more elegant Bordeauxs.
