+1 big fan. Have to appreciate how they’ve remained traditionally styled.
I consumed one of these in December. Out of all the bottles I opened in 2017 it was my woty.
2014 looks like a solid buy under $60.
I’ve never had the 2005 but thought I’d drop in on the thread to add to the GPL love. Still working through a case of the 1995.
One thing about GPL, it can take a long time to come round. I had the 2000 recently and the nose was great right out of the bottle, but after about 20 minutes in the decanter the palate closed off, it would probably have needed hours of decanting to be accessible at all.
I had the 2005 soon after release and it was spectacular, best GPL I’ve ever had and a very high level Paulliac – contra to Ian’s comment above it had plenty of precision and complexity, along with lots of depth. But a bottle a couple of years ago was shut down. Glad to hear it’s coming around, I have some stored away for the future. I think the 2005 GPL is going to last a long, long time, be a 40 year wine – it’s one of those wines that was very full and deep on release but then feels thin during its shut down phase.
P.S. speaking of our BWE “moderator”, I may bring a bottle of this 2005 to our BWE festivities in DC and see what he thinks
I agree that GPL takes a long while to show its best. One can point out, as Ian does, that GPL doesn’t compete with the best of Bordeaux (especially in terms of complexity) and I can buy that. But when I factor in price and consistency, I am a big fan. I agree the 2005 is a real classic in the making, and the 82 and 90 GPL are pretty close to profound wines, right there with the best of the vintage in Bordeaux. **This all said, 2000-and-earlier, I would take Lynch over GPL pretty much any day. 2001-present, I would pick GPL.
At any rate, I’ve voted with my wallet. Here’s my top 20 holdings of wines from a producer (summing across all vintages, bottlings, vineyards, etc.):
Ridge – 116
Produttori de Barbaresco – 88
Grand Puy Lacoste – 62
Sociando Mallet – 53
Christoffel – 50
Magdelaine – 44
Cantemerle – 44
JJ Prum – 37
Pichon Lalande – 36
Canon – 36
Beychevelle – 35
Edmunds St. Johns – 33
Lagrange – 28
Musar – 28
Calon Segur – 28
Duhart-Milon – 27
Selbach-Oster – 26
Pontet-Canet – 26
Donnhoff – 24
Count me in as another big fan of Grand Puy Lacoste. It’s a really good Pauillac, especially in the top vintages. It has character, it ages for decades and it sells for a fair price.
Am impressed with GPL in generally good vintages. The Bordeaux guy need to drink this blind and I’ll bet he gets past beyond seeing the label and actually like this wine. Something we’ve witnessed before, Patrick.
I’m a bit surprised that 2005 GPL is drinking well already. Am I the only one?
The note shows the wine is still young and vibrant, perhaps it may close down or go dormant for a while after this, If I had a case of this wine I would appreciate the note for the fact that the wine is showing well in its youth and offers some level of openness at the moment, for sure its going to be all about the balance of fruit,acid and tannin at the moment but I dont see anything wrong with that
My apologies guys, this is the 1995, not the 2005.
This makes so much more sense. I love the 1995 and have gone through quite a few bottles.
Big fan of the 95 GPL too. I think it’s best days are still to come.
Hahahaha!
And the world makes sense again.
Though we can never trust anything Jeremy says again. I feel a bit miffed having drunk through a case of 2005 GPL in the last two days on his advice.
One of my fav '95’s
At least you now have some cellar space Craig so that you can back-fill the '95.
Had the 1996 GPL last night.
Quick take: terrific, classic Pauillac bouquet, nearly fully developed aromatically; palate remains inchoate, leaning lean, some tannins yet to resolve.
The bouquet is very encouraging that this will be an excellent to outstanding wine when at peak. The 96s Left Bankers have always been so expressive on the nose. The GPL palate however, also like many 96s, is more of a question— it lacks the oomph and bottle sweetness to take it to the next level. It can’t match the 80’s equivalents… yet.
Perhaps this will continue to fill out with time. If it does, this will go to 94-95 pts. Last night, it was more like a 92+.
Changing the title of the thread reminded me that I actually have some of this but have yet to crack a bottle. Thanks for the TN Jeremy. Glad to see the well-timed dip into Bordeaux.
Cheers,
Doug
+1…can’t opine on the '10 and '15 yet, but I hope that they’re right there with the other vintages… 