Ch. Giscours with our friend Alexander Van Beek

[Comte Flaneur]

Alexander Van Beek, who hosted us at our memorable Du Tertre lunch on 5/18/15, arrived at Ch Giscours in 1995, aged 24. So it was appropriate that we started this zoom tasting with the 1995 vintage first and moved through the younger vintages. In a nutshell what he is trying to do is to take the estate back to the glory days of the 1970s, when arguably Giscours was the best wine in the Margaux appellation. From the late 70s more Merlot was planted to make wines more accessible and soften the hard Cabernet tannins in cool vintages. With global warming they have been able to reverse that trend and the Cabernet share has been rising successively.

1995 - Merlot dominated with 60% in the blend with the rest CS. Garnet with initial vegetal saline notes, this shy austere old style wine emerged from its shell, medium bodied with a pleasing verve and freshness. I would drink this with pleasure with a roast...circa 89. (all scores here +/- 1)

2000 - they managed to get the CS up to 55%, with the Merlot share declining to 40%, topped up with 5% Cab Franc. A sunny, warm vintage contrives to make a beautiful classically proportioned wine, which still has quite a strict persona. White pepper, talcum and loamy notes with shy Margaux berries lingering in the background. 91

2005 - 62% CS, 38% Merlot, bigger framed, riper, more overt blueberry notes. Still very young with big puckering tannins, it needs five years, but should evolve into an excellent wine. 91

2010 - 71/29; cool minty nose, closed initially on the palate, AVB suggested decanting 24 hours in advance. Multi-layered, very classy, ‘virile’ (AVB), needs food and time. It continues to open and impress over the evening. 92

2015 - 70/25/5 - the latter petit Verdot, this wine has an extraordinarily seductive nose, taking you into a voluptuous wine with ‘creamy tannins’ (AVB), with exuberant red fruits and flowers. Beautiful wine, which is approachable now. 93

2016 - 81/19 - now we are back to a wine which will replicate the very great wines made here in 1970, 1975 and 1978. More structured and classical than the 2015, higher acidity and less seductive this wins by a nose. 94

Giscours is a big masculine structured style which sits slightly uncomfortably in the Margaux appellation. Tonight’s tasting confirms why I am more drawn to the wines of D’Issan and Brane Cantenac, but I am pleased to own cases of 2006 and 2009 Giscours as well as odd bottles from the 1970s. As we all know, Du Tertre is very different more feminine and approachable than its bigger masculine stable mate, and uses the non CS grape varieties more abundantly.

[jckba]

Nice notes once again Ian. I happen to quite like the wines from Giscours, just finished my last btl from a case of the 2001 and it was absolutely gorgeous but much like you, I generally gravitate towards buying Rauzan Segla, d’Issan and Brane Cantenac first.

[JimHow]

I'm a big fan of the post-1999 Giscours.
I think it is the second-most numbered wine in my cellar.
I'm a big fan of du Tertre as well.
Both du Tertre and Giscours have been BWE wines of the year.

[Blanquito]

Was the recent chaptalisation obvious at all, Ian?

[brodway]

Ian

the 2000 Giscours is open for business it seems...may have to pop one soon

[Nicklasss]

Very nice report.

And i agree that when we went to du Tertre in 2015, the Giscours was way more masculine than the du Tertre. But both were excellent.

The 2017 du Tertre and Giscours were very good at UGC Montréal, and again du Tertre more easy going while could age, but Giscours was concentrated and masculine.

The 2009 is extremely good and not that much tatooed by the vintage.

Nic

[greatbxfreak]

Yes, 2009 is a blast and as are 2016 and 2018. 2019 is somewhere between 2016 and 2018.

[Comte Flaneur]

Was the recent chaptalisation obvious at all, Ian?

A delicate question that one brought up, but no because I don’t think the chaptalised Merlot grapes got into the final blend of the 2016...why they would need to chaptalise in such a ripe vintage is beyond me. Also there was the scandal about adding non-Bdx grape varieties to the 1995 Sirène, for which I think they were indicted in 1998 and possibly fined in 2008 but no-one mentioned it.

Perhaps Alex or Izak have some colour on this.

[Musigny 151]

Giscours 1979 was my Eureka wine, still going strong last time tasted.

When one talks of Margaux, it covers a huge amount of territory, and the Giscours is quite a bit to the south of Issan, Palmer and Margaux. Hard to find a tremendous amount of commonality between all the wines of this appellation.

That being said, it tends to be a tremendous value, and the wines Ian mentioned from the 1970s were incredibly impressive. It went through a bad time in the 1980s, and I think really found it’s feet again with the wines from the early 2000s. Alexander has done a magnificent job bringing this old property back, and for me, the 2010 reminds me of those old wines from the 1970s, but a little cleaner. I did like the 2015, enjoyed but had reservations about the ‘16, and the ‘17 excelled in a very hit and miss vintage.

[Claudius2]

Guys
I had largely ignored Giscours until 2005 and bought a case EP in Australia. I did buy cases of 09 and 10 which were quite reasonably priced. The 05 is still young but I’ve drunk it several times and I really like it. It is a Heaps of Everything style which is a common Australian term. But the fruit is so nice - masses of typical Margaux fruit and firm structure. I can cope with some tannin at the best of times and was very impressed with it. I also love 2005 in both Bdx and Bourgogne.

[Blanquito]

Is the 2016 open enough still that it’s worth checking in on a bottle from my purchase today, Ian?

[Comte Flaneur]

Patrick, I really enjoyed it, but that was a 72ml pour out of a 750ml - this Giscours 2016 was less closed down than the 2010 - these modern wines generally don’t close down for long ...ime... the tannins management has come such a long way. I am sure Jim would love the 2016 Giscours.

[AKR]

Nice notes and commentary.

[JimHow]

The 2016 Giscours will be $65 on sale in NH, I'll buy a couple bottles, one to try now and one to blanquito a couple times.