2019 Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Pauillac, France 750ml

The 2019 Grand Puy Lacoste is deep purple in colour. Initially the bouquet is tight and so I left my sample for 15-20 minutes to open. It rewards patience with a beguiling mélange of pure blackberry, raspberry, crushed violet and pencil shavings, very focused and mineral-driven. The palate is medium-bodied with finely chiseled tannins. Compared to the robust, tannic GPL's of old, this is much more lithe and approachable, yet it still bears the DNA of this Pauillac estate. It might not possess the flair of other 2019 Left Banks, but that it is not what I seek from this estate. Classy and full of breeding - quintessential Pauillac. -- Neal Martin  Vinous

Inky and glass-staining damson colour, with enjoyable aromatics, slow building power that is tempered and softened by waves of violet and peony. Knitted down, muscular tannins build a wall around the black fruits. This is concentrated, signature Pauillac just as it was En Primeur, majoring on pencil lead, cloves, liquorice and cocoa bean. 41hl/h yield, 75% new oak.

The 2019 Grand-Puy-Lacoste exhibits notions of minty cassis, plums, loamy soil, burning embers and cigar wrapper, followed by a medium to full-bodied, rich and velvety palate that’s deep and concentrated, its generous core of lively fruit concealing an elegantly muscular chassis of ripe, powdery tannin. Consisting of fully 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, this is another true classic from the Borie family.

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. I regularly purchase this estate's wines for my own cellar, and the 2019 vintage is certainly no exception! William Kelley