My renewed love affair with Grand Puy Lacoste.
Posted: Tue Sep 26, 2023 4:06 pm
I received my six bottles of 2019 Grand Puy Lacoste this morning, now safely stored in my cellar. I really enjoyed the one bottle of the 2019 I had the other day, it may not have been quite to the level of the 99-100 point Montrose but it is definitely an outstanding wine. This comes on the heels of outstanding efforts in at least 2014 and 2016 (I don't believe I've tried the 2015, 2017, and 2018 yet), with the 2016 holding the distinction of BWE wine of the year.
My very first purchase from Premier Cru back in the earliest days of BWE was two bottles of the 1982 GPL, and they were outstanding in their relative youth. Bob and Deb from Iowa brought an '82 GPL to the first BWE convention in Chicago in 2001, it came in 5th place out of 6 wines tasted blind at the first epic matchup between the '89 Lynch and '89 Purple Baron. I do think there has been some bottle variation in the 1982 GPLs, but the good bottles are superb. I've also loved the 1995 GPL, which I think is a profound wine, as well as the 1996. From that point forward, though, I've questioned the style of winemaking there, with the 2009 and 2010 being pretty controversial, pretty bad from my perspective.
Nicola and I were at MacArthur's one afternoon in DC, it must have been around 2019, and we were talking to Phil Bernstein, the Bordeaux guy there. He was saying that GPL was "finally realizing its terroir" again, I believe after a change in the winemaking management there. My experience with the 2014, 2016, and 2019 definitely seems to bear that out. The 2019 is high in alcohol -- 14.5% -- but it seems "very Pauillac," pure and velvety. It will drink well now and for years to come. I will let these 2019s sit for another 5, 10, 15 years.
My very first purchase from Premier Cru back in the earliest days of BWE was two bottles of the 1982 GPL, and they were outstanding in their relative youth. Bob and Deb from Iowa brought an '82 GPL to the first BWE convention in Chicago in 2001, it came in 5th place out of 6 wines tasted blind at the first epic matchup between the '89 Lynch and '89 Purple Baron. I do think there has been some bottle variation in the 1982 GPLs, but the good bottles are superb. I've also loved the 1995 GPL, which I think is a profound wine, as well as the 1996. From that point forward, though, I've questioned the style of winemaking there, with the 2009 and 2010 being pretty controversial, pretty bad from my perspective.
Nicola and I were at MacArthur's one afternoon in DC, it must have been around 2019, and we were talking to Phil Bernstein, the Bordeaux guy there. He was saying that GPL was "finally realizing its terroir" again, I believe after a change in the winemaking management there. My experience with the 2014, 2016, and 2019 definitely seems to bear that out. The 2019 is high in alcohol -- 14.5% -- but it seems "very Pauillac," pure and velvety. It will drink well now and for years to come. I will let these 2019s sit for another 5, 10, 15 years.
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