Popped on a whim, poured into a decanter, and started to enjoy in 30 minutes. Around 75 minutes later, and this is a very enjoyable drink, admittedly, still on the very youthful side for a Classified Growth in a major vintage.
I guess what has surprised me most about this wine is its scale. After a 2005 Montrose and Lynch Bages last year, I had an expectation that this wine would be comparably-scaled, meaning fairly monolithic. It is not. While it has great structure, and a lot of classical notes, there are also some lithe profile notes and red fruits in the mix. Aromatically the wine is archetype Pauillac with its number 2 lead pencil, cassis, rich earth, tobacco and an evolving leathery note. The palate is mid-weight, really nice range of reds to darks with some nice crisp intensity and acid. Notably dusty earthy presence. Tannins are firming up with some air but with a dark cassis sweetish note to them. This is an elegant, classic Bordeaux, not a hair out of place.
Great review. I’ve got a single bottle of this. Seeing as I only have one, I’d like to open it when it is showing well. Would you consider this in a good place, or do you think it will still improve substantially?
I had a 2009 GPL not too long ago and felt the exact same way. GPL is punching way above its price class, and while I’m not the biggest Bordeaux fan, I’d go out of my way to get more of that wine.
Thanks for the note. I have three of these but haven’t opened any yet. After opening a pretty foresquare and monolithic 05 St. Pierre recently, I’m thinking the better 05s are at least 25 year wines.
I had it in June, very promising but to young for me, I’ll wait another 5 years. Even the 2000 is youthful if much more open. I now drink 1995, 96, 98, 99
I have quite a bit of '05s, and have opened a few here and there. The only one that seemed close to ready was LMHB. I agree that I probably won’t open any more until around 2030…assuming I make it that long as well!
Thanks, Robert. Sounds like your bottle was showier than one I opened back in February, although maybe you worked through yours more slowly than we did ours (we also had ours on a ski trip at high elevation, so that was an x-factor for us, too (although I didn’t sense my palate was negatively impacted in any fashion)).
TASTE: still tannic; starting to develop some aged flavors – touch of aged Cabernet Sauvignon leather; mostly youthful; comes across as being in a tough spot right now – closed/tight. There’s great material there, but now is not the time to be opening, unless you can give it plenty of air. HOLD.
Great note Robert! I absolutely love GPL and wish I had some 05. 2000 and 2010 were just downright filthy and the 2019 I had earlier in the year showed tons of promise. Love that “classic” Bordeaux is what you dig!
