Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste, Pauillac 2020

Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste

This full-bodied red builds on the palate in a fantastic way with tight, compact tannins that grow and grow on the finish. Plenty of blackcurrant and graphite character and a flavorful finish.

France

Bordeaux

Complex, layered, structured

Red

13.5

75.0

76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot.

The Wine Advocate
94+/100
William Kelley

"The 2020 Grand-Puy-Lacoste is excellent, offering up aromas of cassis and plums mingled with pencil shavings, violets and loamy soil framed by a touch of creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, pure and fleshy, with lively acids, powdery tannins and good depth at the core, its supple, charming style belies considerable aging potential. It's a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot."

This 90-hectare estate (some 60 hectares of which are in production), situated in a single block on a gravel dome around the château, has long been a favorite among Bordeaux insiders. Under Emeline Borie's direction, subtle refinements have been made: more than 100 soil pits were dug to better understand the château's geology; herbicides have never been used here, but now 20 hectares are devoted to a trial of organic farming; since 2013, a vertical press is used; and since 2012, the new vintage goes to barrel immediately after malolactic fermentation, before being blended early in the new year. Today's wines are a touch more immediately charming and structurally polished than the Grand-Puy-Lacoste of fifteen years ago, yet they have lost none of their classic Cabernet-driven Pauillac character.