TN: the 2009 Grand Puy Lacoste doesn't suck
Posted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 3:11 am
2009 GPL Test-Drive
It has a big, expressive bouquet with notes of uber-ripe black currants (think Ribena), violets, dust, cinnamon, and menthol with no obvious new oak. To taste, there's lots of iodine and minerals, very cassis, spicy, with a good pop of lemony acidity despite the ripeness giving it a distinctive sweet-tart quality. Medium to full-bodied with silky tannins, not a monster structure but with very late hit of tannic constriction on the tongue. This is wide-open, primary and young to be sure, but there's nothing closed or inscrutible about this. 90-92 pts.
The mid palate and finish are reassuringly good and show some restraint/class, and doesn't seem like it will fall apart like some walking-dead Rolland zombies. This does improve with 4-5 hours of slow-airing in the bottle showing more class, but will this develop the complexity and texture of the great clarets of yore, or will it remain a pleasant 90-pointer? I dunno, but right now I dislike those notes of overripeness on the nose and attack. Ribena in my Pauillac? I like it a lot more the a 75-pt wine, but Jacques has a point (though this half-bottle shows no oaky vanilla, but there may be some Chilean merlot in the bouquet).
Overall, a GPL with a split personality, taking something from California, something Bordeaux. If this were a young Cali cab, I'd probably be much higher on this, but this is a Grand Cru Classe from Pauillac... Clearly, this appears different than the great GPLs of old, but I didn't try the 82, 90 or 95 on release. What I can say with confidence, this 2009 certainly is different -- not necessarily worse, maybe even better, but definitely different -- than the 00/01 GPLs which I tasted young.
This is ripe and shows modern influences on its winemaking... or is this just the 09 vintage showing through? Will this settle down as a classic claret after 15 years? Time will tell, but tonight this 09 GPL doesn't have the gravitas of the 2005, so maybe my reservations are really about the global-warming of wine.
It has a big, expressive bouquet with notes of uber-ripe black currants (think Ribena), violets, dust, cinnamon, and menthol with no obvious new oak. To taste, there's lots of iodine and minerals, very cassis, spicy, with a good pop of lemony acidity despite the ripeness giving it a distinctive sweet-tart quality. Medium to full-bodied with silky tannins, not a monster structure but with very late hit of tannic constriction on the tongue. This is wide-open, primary and young to be sure, but there's nothing closed or inscrutible about this. 90-92 pts.
The mid palate and finish are reassuringly good and show some restraint/class, and doesn't seem like it will fall apart like some walking-dead Rolland zombies. This does improve with 4-5 hours of slow-airing in the bottle showing more class, but will this develop the complexity and texture of the great clarets of yore, or will it remain a pleasant 90-pointer? I dunno, but right now I dislike those notes of overripeness on the nose and attack. Ribena in my Pauillac? I like it a lot more the a 75-pt wine, but Jacques has a point (though this half-bottle shows no oaky vanilla, but there may be some Chilean merlot in the bouquet).
Overall, a GPL with a split personality, taking something from California, something Bordeaux. If this were a young Cali cab, I'd probably be much higher on this, but this is a Grand Cru Classe from Pauillac... Clearly, this appears different than the great GPLs of old, but I didn't try the 82, 90 or 95 on release. What I can say with confidence, this 2009 certainly is different -- not necessarily worse, maybe even better, but definitely different -- than the 00/01 GPLs which I tasted young.
This is ripe and shows modern influences on its winemaking... or is this just the 09 vintage showing through? Will this settle down as a classic claret after 15 years? Time will tell, but tonight this 09 GPL doesn't have the gravitas of the 2005, so maybe my reservations are really about the global-warming of wine.