Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

All this GPL chatter prompted opening this last night.

2003 Grand Puy Lacoste
From 375 ml... Bouquet shows bing cherry reduction, lactic, hand soap, a touch of oak, a bit sickly sweet and still showing a whiff of that praline-toffee that so many 2003s had on release. Round, smooth, sweet and borderline flabby to taste, but eschews cloying. Finish is good, shows a touch of green that I like. All in all, quite pleasant, spicy, no dilution yet a small-scale for a GPL despite the sweetness, hardly any tannin left. Fully open and ready now, will hold but I doubt this improves much in the future. 88 pts.

I liked, didn't love, but this is way better than in 2006 when I last tried. Maybe this keeps getting better and proves excellent in time. I was just stuck by how soft it was, and it's not big in anyway despite the epic heat. Easy to drink on its own and that's no crime.

Interesting note, it is interesting how GPL is evoking such dramatically different viewpoints. I recall having the 2003 twice and thinking it was supermarket-level swill, watery, light, flabby. Danny loves it, you seem to be somewhere in between.

JimHow wrote:Danny loves it, you seem to be somewhere in between.

Precisely. I felt very on the fence about this, which is probably a good working definition of "decent".

I've been drinking a lot of this from splits.

Haven't touched the full sized bottles yet.

All were purchased EP, so sound storage.

I'd concur with your recent observations, maybe a shade more cheery though.

We seem to end up having it whenever meatloaf rears its head around here.

Jim,

You gotta understand I'll always find the good and ignore the bad in wine and most things in life if general. Both these comments on the 03 come from splits and I have never been sold the wines coming from these pint size bottles develop the same way as the 750ml. Both comments talk about decent and a shade more cheery. It's Bordeaux and find certainly find a lot of pleasure in this one and I agree this is not a stunner but a very enjoyable week night meatloaf kinda wine. Maybe grilled rib steak if you wish but I don't see what the complaints are. Load up what you don't like and bring em down this summer....I'll find a home for them!!

Even if they're Brunellos Danny?

I don't know what went wrong at GPL after 1996 and up through the 2009-2010 we had at the DC convention but I do think that 2012 GPL I had the other night was solid, if not profound, and worth the purchase of another bottle or two at $49 each.

dstgolf wrote:Jim,

You gotta understand I'll always find the good and ignore the bad in wine and most things in life if general. Both these comments on the 03 come from splits and I have never been sold the wines coming from these pint size bottles develop the same way as the 750ml. Both comments talk about decent and a shade more cheery. It's Bordeaux and find certainly find a lot of pleasure in this one and I agree this is not a stunner but a very enjoyable week night meatloaf kinda wine. Maybe grilled rib steak if you wish but I don't see what the complaints are. Load up what you don't like and bring em down this summer....I'll find a home for them!!

Unsurprisingly I find that splits evolve a shade faster than full bottles. Even in Sauternes where we are more likely to have more choices in formats around the house.

Danny for a variant on the ketchup covered or bacon/hardboiled egg styled meatloaf (we're former camp) try this BDX friendly North African / Levant variant: use lamb, add finely diced olives + dried apricots, fold in with an egg, make them into mini loafs or meatballs for a skewer. Surprisingly good, and from a recipe from my supermarket, which has tasty / practical suggestions. The cookbooks we get as gifts (we had over hundreds upon hundreds before winnowing them down when moving) seem to more about the authors ego, rather than for the amateur home chef.