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Undoubtedly one of the stars of the vintage. There is nothing complicated about the wine. It is totally focused on purity of fruit with appealing aromas of lavender and violets. This is a wine of charm and accessibility. Whilst not powerful it has excellent balance and an appealing textured finish.
Undoubtedly one of the stars of the vintage. There is nothing complicated about the wine. It is totally focused on purity of fruit with appealing aromas of lavender and violets. This is a wine of charm and accessibility. Whilst not powerful it has excellent balance and an appealing textured finish.
The 2013 Grand-Puy-Lacoste has a well-defined bouquet with blackberry, wild strawberry and cedar fruit, nicely composed and delineated, not complex but harmonious. As usual, there is a conservative element to the aromatics in keeping with this estate's style. The palate is medium-bodied with appreciable mineralité on the entry. I like the edginess here, the framework and in particular the finesse that is not always apparent at Grand-Puy-Lacoste, at least at this early juncture. It might not be a long-term proposition, but it is certainly one of the finest Pauillac wines of the vintage courtesy of Xavier and Emeline Borie.
The Grand Puy Lacoste is a blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot picked at 31hl/ha from 30 September until 11 October, matured in 75% new oak. It has a fragrant red berry fruit on the nose: raspberry leaf and cranberry, undergrowth and a touch of tobacco. It is very classic G.P.L. style but dialled down from previous vintages. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins and well judged acidity, harmonious with cedar and tobacco on the finish. There is not the usual structure compared to recent vintages, although it is cohesive and for want of a better word...honest. And what more can you ask from a wine?
Deep colour and finely expressed fruit, cassis with a little spice, very Cabernet, dense but lifted, good middle fruit, good future. Drink: 2018-2028
Exceptional depth of flavour for a wine that it medium-weight and also only 12.7% alc. They had to select around the botrytis in order to try to get more and more depth of flavour without any botrytis notes creeping in. Incredible, weightless and epic graphite and cassis fruit. This wine is an anomaly – fine, old style weight and yet with modern, bright fruit. Acidity and tannins are incredibly ripe and very pure. One of the most centred, elegant and clean wines of the vintage. Heroic weight (or lack of, I suppose!). Only half the normal yields. Charles Chevallier agreed with me that while he won’t want to make vintages like this every year it is like going back to the seventies only with cleaner, more pinpoint accurate fruit. For this reason and because I think it will age with grace and charm this wine merits the same score as last year’s wine and this makes it one of the wines of the vintage!
80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot. Vibrant purple. Compact, tight nose, but superbly supple on the palate – sieved tannins, milk chocolate, just a little bit light on the finish. Very attractive and sensitively made – very powerful, very Pauillac. (RH)
Due south of St Estèphe lies the appellation of Pauillac, the king of Left Bank communes. It is home to three first growths as well as a plethora of other classified growths. Pauillac's renowned well-draining, gravelly soils enable its dominant grape Cabernet Sauvignon to reach fantastic heights of complexity and concentration. As a result, Pauilac's wines tend to be full-bodied with compact tannins and good freshness. Its aromatics are often what one associates with classic Bordeaux: pencil shavings, black currant and occasional mint. Some of the most famous châteaux of the commune are Latour, Mouton Rothschild, Lafite Rothschild, Pichon Baron, Pichon Lalande and Lynch Bages.
