95 GPL revisited

[Comte Flaneur]

For this I feared the worst but hoped for the best, a bit like so many of us poor souls who live on hope rather than expectation. In its primal youth this was a riveting wine with so much energy but buttressed by formidable tannins. The last outing with this wine set off ominous alarm bells. The fruit was fading amid the relentless tsunami of those brutal tannins. It was only gonna get worse. This bottle didn’t start out well and seemed initially to confirm that narrative. But as it opened up the wine softened with just enough red fruit left to keep the show on the road. It has evolved into a somewhat mellow wine, but because of those uncouth and amorphous tannins it lacks complexity and precision.

It is a shadow of its former self, because it has lost its energy. In my opinion the best time to drink this wine was 20 years ago…not dead by any means and no trouble drinking through most of the bottle, but its glory days I think are behind it…it has entered the twilight zone. If you want to put a positive spin on it, it is much better than the desperately mediocre 1995 Pontet Canet with its fuzzy birdcage aromas. For the GPL 90-91 pts (~five points higher than the Pontet Canet, but ~five points lower than two decades ago)

Reading other CT notes I am in a minority on this one. Kevin H for example is much more positive and still thinks this can improve. I have tried this wine many times over many years and it was a riveting wine in its youth with so much energy. Robert Parker rated it 95 points, his equal highest rating for this estate in the fourth edition of his Bordeaux book (published in 2003), and arguably equivalent to an even higher critic score today given the grade inflation since. And I rated it around there too back in the day - though I cannot track down any of my specific notes on it. One thing I can say unequivocally is that more recent bottles do not have the sheer verve and energy that this wine exhibited in its youth. The tannins have always been brutal but in its early life at least the primary fruit could stand up to them.

I might hang on to my remaining bottles - I have 4-5 left - because last night's bottle showed a bit better than I thought it would. The tannins have softened and are less obtrusive, but they are still there, big and fuzzy. As Kevin H noted you still have a 'wall of matt tannins' ... and the fruit is just about hanging on. But I don't see this improving with further aging - I think it will just evolve into an old diffuse wine. My friend and I were discussing this wine driving back from Macon, and he is of the same view as me, and has already sold his remaining bottles netting $120 per bottle. I haven't decided yet what to do with mine, but I am still inclined to sell them.

Would be interested in any other recent impressions on this wine...

[JCNorthway]

I opened my last bottle of this wine for Easter dinner this year. My impression was more favorable than yours. There could be several factors influencing that like serving with food, celebrating a holiday with family, etc. But I thought it was still an outstanding wine. As we were draining the decanters at the end, I thought the GPL was giving just a bit more than the Angelus - excerpt from my post below.

"After tasting both wines, I decided to decant both of them to give them a couple of hours of air. They both were fabulous wines to go with the lamb dish. In fact they really needed food to show their best. The Angelus was just a tad more developed and open while the GPL still needed a bit of coaxing in the glass to show its best. I would give them both around 95 points."