Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste 2005

Château Grand Puy Lacoste 5th Growth Pauillac, Bordeaux, France, 2005   

Grapes: A blend of 69% Cabernet Sauvignon, 28% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc, 55ha vineyard on deep gravel soil, 38 year average vine age, hand picked, aged 16-18 months in French oak barrels (75% new)

Xavier Borie has made a delicious, forward wine. Carefully extracted, fresh and immediately appealing but with the balance and depth to age well.

Producer Tasting Note:

The 2005 Grand-Puy-Lacoste exhibits classic Pauillac aromas. It is a beautiful, dense purple-tinged effort displaying a sweet, pure perfume of crème de cassis, flowers and wet stones. With a fabulous ripeness, it is a full-bodied wine with a fleshy attack, mid-palate and finish. It offers a gorgeous length as well as richness. The purity of this beauty's black currant fruit is something to behold.

Critics' Tasting Notes: 

"Clearly the best value in Pauillac today, this is classic in all the right ways. Expressive, yet stoic, the wine is full-bodied, concentrated, tannic and filled with tobacco-drenched creme de cassis, red plums, cedar, wet earth, cigar wrapper and forest leaf. Youthful, fresh and still waiting for its prime time window, two hours of decanting or 3-4 years in the cellar will do the trick."

95/100 points, Jeff Leve, THE WINE CELLAR INSIDER, June 2021

"This estate's finest wine of the decade is the 2005 Grand-Puy-Lacoste, a fleshy, sumptuous wine evocative of cassis, sweet red berries and cigar box, framed by a touch of creamy new oak that integrates with opening. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with an enveloping core of fruit, rich tannins and a seamless but authoritative profile, it concludes with a long, resonant finish. Just entering early maturity, it will continue to develop for several decades" Drink 2020-2050

96/100 points, William Kelley, WINE ADVOCATE, December 2023