Grand Puy Lacoste 2017

The 2017 Grand-Puy-Lacoste was bottled at the end of June. Brambly black fruit, wild hedgerow, cedar and a touch of wild mint. This is classic "GPL". The palate is very well balanced with brine-tinged black fruit and a fine bead of acidity. It is beautifully focused with a refined, lightly spiced finish. You have to give this wine time in the glass because it really starts to "flow" after 5-10 minutes. Excellent. Drink 2023-2050.

Tasted blind. Deep ruby colour. Deep liquorice and black fruit on a cool, brooding nose. This follows on the palate, which shows a prominent cedar note and intense, fresh black-fruit character. The tannins are rich and muscular but well defined. Tightly wound and full of potential, this is graceful and structured with a savoury, long finish.
Drink 2028 – 2045

Aromas of fresh raspberries with some lemon peel and fresh herbs follow through to a full to medium body. Fresh herbs and graphite highlight the wine. Chewy finish. Needs time to soften. Better after 2022.

Composed of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon and 20% Merlot, the 2017 Grand-Puy-Lacoste was aged in French oak barriques, 75% new. Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it opens with notes of fresh black raspberries, kirsch and crushed black and red currants with hints of spice box, fragrant soil and potpourri. Medium-bodied, the palate is frisky and fresh with a moderate level of approachable, soft tannins and compelling restraint on the finish. Drink 2020-2030.

These guys often over-deliver in challenging years, and have done so yet again. As you would expect in a vintage that has produced such an excellent Lacoste Borie, this GPL is exceptional, a real success that's juicy and carefully extracted. It has weight and impact, with a Pauillac tannic hold and presence. It's one of my wines of the vintage, and a must buy. The balanced, sculpted, juicy black fruits fully deliver personality and signature style. Harvested 15-29 September, yielding 45hl/ha. 80% new oak.
Drinking Window 2025 - 2038

Colour of blackcurrant juice. Fresh and peppery with lots of pure, fine cassis on the nose. Dark and pure. Silky, moreish, not that much more intense than the second wine Lacoste Borie but a little more persistent and more depth in the middle. Fine tannins, soft and supple. Fresh on the finish. Pure and persistent in its relative delicacy.
Drink 2025-2037

Production here was the same as last year with no frost in the vineyards. Made from the classic blend of 80% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot. A deep ruby colour, with expressive blackcurrant, cedar, and diligent, high quality oak that offers nutmeg and a lightly toasty note. The palate is cool, smooth and sophisticated with cedary, chewy tannins and bright acidity. Classically proportioned and with superb balance of acidity, fruit and tannin, this is one for the purists. No over extraction or exuberant ripeness, this is all about elegance and precision.

Ripe fruit the nose has a rich mix of flavours the palate depth with ripe cassis some black cherry. There are enough fresh fruits to balance but the ripe fruit the bitter chocolate is there at the back enriching the finish. Drink 2025 - 2038.

This has a thrilling nose which, in spite of the weighty dominance of Cabernet, is perfectly red-fruited and sonorous. This is a sleek thoroughbred with power and grace and it is layered with flashes of both red and black fruit on the palate. The finish has more muscle and more tannin looms as the flavour senesces on the back of the palate and the result is a game of flamboyance and reticence warning the drinker that while the flavour entices you in, there is also the need to exercise restraint because this is a not a wine for drinking in the short term in spite of its apparent precocity. Throughout the flavour there is levity and this is what makes this powerful wine such an unequivocal success. François-Xavier Borie agrees with this character. He smiled – ‘don’t forget we are serious’.