I love GPL. Would really appreciate people’s thoughts on the specific vintages where they’ve missed the mark.
Where GPL really hit the bullseye was in 1994 through 1996, these are all really outstanding wines punching well above their station in these vintages. In my opinion 2014 is a return to that kind of ‘supersecond’ style form, and 2016 is the best wine this estate has ever made.
GPL was uninspiring after 1996 in my opinion and that includes the 2000, with which I have had mixed experiences. The 2005 and 2010 vintages maybe an exception, but neither wine stands out in the context of those respective vintages.
The 2009 was controversial because it tasted like a Cali fruit bomb in its youth and had an awful lot of puppy fat to shed, and have not tasted one since. But ‘uninspiring’ is a word I would use to describe many of the vintages of GPL I have tried in between the 1996 and 2014 vintages which are quite similar.
The 2003 GPL is a train wreck of a wine. Worse than average in that dismal vintage. Jim the benevolent dictator of BWE is very negative about GPL, overly so in my opinion.
For my preferences, the 2005 and 2010 are stupendous. That said, I generally love those vintages, but I do feel GPL stands-out as a shining star in those years.