The 1983 Gruaud Larose has been uncorked and other ramblings.

[JimHow]

A Gruaud Larose from the Cordier stable of the '80s.
This seems like a well-stored bottle, high fill, that I bought at the Wine Watch but we never got to it over the Fort Lauderdale weekend.
A bit acerbic at the initial taste but it seems like it has promise. We'll give it some air.

[JimHow]

The color seems appropriate....

[JimHow]

Going into a general fast (other than some upcoming celebrations) in April and into the spring as I have a string of very difficult jury trials coming up, so I decided to uncork something a little different than the 14.5% bottles of sugar I've been drinking lately. This says 12% on the label.

[JimHow]

I stopped taking new cases over three months ago, but I still have over 100 pending felony cases, including one last murder case. I can't even begin to tell you how disastrously damaged the criminal court system is in this country. The system is in free fall. I don't know if we're going to survive this mess. Seventeen months to Medicare, baby. Hopefully it'll still be there when I get there.

The GL opening up nicely... Quite delicate.

[JimHow]

So what have we concluded?
Will these modern 14.5% freaks ever age like those classic 12% wines of the 80s?
I'm hard pressed to imagine the modern Gruaud Larose marching the complexity of this wine, the tobacco, coffee, pencil, etc.
It is really opening up beautifully now, on both the nose and palate. None of the initial tartness remaining, this has become smooth, delicate but strong in the mouth.

[Harry C.]

Any Cordier funk? Aka Brett?

[JimHow]

Indeed, Harry. There’s a ton of horse shit in it. It is splendid. Sadly, will we ever see shit again in our favorite post 1989 Bordeaux? Not likely. What a shame. This wine ended up being everything I expected, and more. What a great end of March treat. It was medium bodied, everything you remember an underrated 1983 producing. It was earthy, with tobacco, cedar, coffee, a blanquito kind of wine insofar that it was just past its prime rather than approaching it. Lots of sediment at the end that I joyously sucked up, Francois-like. The few remaining sources of the ‘83 sell it in the $160+ range, which is what I paid for this apparently perfectly stored bottle from Wine Watch. As for the 82 and 86, the prices, like everything else, are crazy town. This wine was a splendid 94 points, everything I look for in left bank Bordeaux. Hallelujah.

[Nicklasss]

Gruaud Larose was great in the 80's, and the proofs are especially linked to the 1980, 1981, 1983 and 1988, all vintages that achieved kind of relative highness.

[JoelD]

Good to hear. I have one of these coming in. Sounds like a fun wine. How many hours did you drink it over? Did it fall off at all?

[JimHow]

Indeed, Joel, I was very cognizant of consuming this during a window of about three hours. I saw someone on cellartracker taking about it opening after an hour but I think it is wise to pop and pour. It was tart at first but it was also very clear to me from the outset that this was a wine of excellent provenance and that it would bloom with air, which it did quickly. I say pop and pour, and drink over 3-4 hours.

[JimHow]

This reminds me of the splendid 1979 Gruaud Larose that Tom and Gail brought to my house a few years ago. So sad that we don’t see wines like this anymore.

Watched a fun, mindless movie over the past two days on Netflix, “Under the Eiffel Tower,” kind of a combination Sideways/chick flick set at Chateau Beauregard. Recommended for some light hearted Bordeaux wine country fun while you are sipping a fine northern Medoc from the golden decade of the eighties…. Makes me want to get back to the motherland, may try to squeeze in a trip as early as this coming month.

[JCNorthway]

I have one bottle of the 1983 Gruaud Larose that I got as a "dividend" from the cellar of my wine club in Chicago. I keep saying I'm going to open it for a special meal, which never seems to happen. Guess I should just open it and enjoy it.

[JimHow]

That was exactly my sentiment, Jon, sometimes you just gotta drink these bottles.

[JoelD]

Sounds lovely. 3-4 hours pnp is how I do pretty much all of my 80's bordeaux these days. Seems to work well.

JC, I think stefan and I both have bottles of this coming in at some point. Maybe a zoom for the Cordier wines as Jim mentioned before. Provided Jim doesn't drink all of his before then

[stefan]

I have one bottle each of 1985 and 1988 Gruaud-Larose coming to me in Oregon in two weeks. I have no 1983 Gruaud anywhere.

[Comte Flaneur]

I have a d-mag which I can open when we do a BWE convention in London - 23?

I can’t decide which is my favourite vintage of G-L - 82, 83, 85 or 86? 88 is pretty good too, though somehow the magic was lost from 1989 onwards

[JoelD]

I have one bottle each of 1985 and 1988 Gruaud-Larose coming to me in Oregon in two weeks. I have no 1983 Gruaud anywhere.

I must have misremembered which you had since I bought both a bottle of the 83 and 88 at the same time, stefan.

Either way, i'll probably receive them at the same time. I know someone brought the 88 to BWE 2020 and I found it to be very nice with more structure than most 88's I've had. Seemed like a steal at the ~$100 I got it for recently.

[JimHow]

I can’t decide which is my favourite vintage of G-L - 82, 83, 85 or 86? 88 is pretty good too, though somehow the magic was lost from 1989 onwards

Indeed. I was mildly surprised at how great the 83 was but I guess I shouldn't have been, it seems that was the height of Gruaud greatness. Again, that 79 Tom brought by was amazing. And you are right, 89 and 90 are relative disappointments following what we saw in the eighties, and nothing has come close since. Meantime, modern day Gruaud has inched up to $100. I'll pass.

[hautbrionlover]

Jim,
That ‘79 Gruaud Larose played a major role in hooking me on Bordeaux.
My interest in wine began in ‘82-‘83. I was trying all kinds of wine, but the one top flight Bordeaux that was readily available in my (low) price range was the ‘79 GL. It seemed like there was an endless supply at $15-16! I’d buy a bottle or two at a time, then go back for more when I could.
My salad days, when I was both green in judgment and living paycheck to paycheck. I wish I’d bought 10 cases!

[AKR]

Did the 83's label feel funny/slick to you? I remember having some 83 Talbot and 85 Talbot when I moved into this house maybe 9 years ago and there was a weird plastic like feel to the labels.

[Ognik]

Btw 2000 GL isn't that bad.....
More contemporary style for sure, but i still love it.

[JimHow]

HBL, I remember Tom still had the price tag on the bottle of his ‘79 GL tgat he brought to my house, it was like $19.99. It was one of my wines of the year.

I threw out the bottle AKR but I think it had that slick feeling GL label from the 80s.

I did indeed think if the 2000 GL, Ognik, that may be the one exception, although it has been quite some time since I drank my last bottle. These GLs from the eighties are disappearing from the market.

[marcs]

I am on record as being a defender of contemporary GLs, they are good, balanced wines underrated on the market. Planning to try a 2009 next week and will report back.

[JoelD]

I haven't tried the 1989 yet but I believe Musigny told me that he thought it was a great wine. Bought a Magnum recently. Hopefully it turns out. I also ordered a 750 of the 1996.

I also enjoyed the 1990 that WinonaChief brought to a dinner in December. Some found it a bit odd/astringent but I found it to be quite interesting.