2020 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste
Market price
Buying options
Tasting notes
This has a very classic nose – lots of toasted spice from high-quality oak, integrated with the earthy tones of top Médoc, matched with a lovely ripeness of fruit too. This feels fully ripe but not at all overripe. The tannins and fruit are brilliantly intertwined, making it very juicy and succulent on the palate. The textural complexity also brings a nice layering texture to the palate already, with enough concentration of fruit to see this only improve in barrel, and bottle. This is a very classic rendition of GPL – fresh, pure, cassis-laden Claret of moderate structure and intensity.
Critic scores
Average Score
James Suckling
James Lawther MW, jancisrobinson.com
More reviews and scores
76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot. 31 hl/ha. Deep colour. Blackcurrant and dark fruit but more reserved than the 2019. Lovely texture, the tannins refined, the fruit dense. Lots of lift and length and complexity as well. Very pure and refined. Shades of the 2016. Built to age. (JL)
Quite youthful, and the wood spices aren’t yet fully integrated, Aromas of violet extract, blue and purple fruit and a hint of graphite. Full-bodied, juicy and poised, with fine-grained tannins that are firm at the end, showing power and length. 76% cabernet sauvignon and 24% merlot. 13.5% alcohol. Drink from 2029. From a vertical tasting at the winery.
The 2020 Grand-Puy-Lacoste has a wonderful, "cool" bouquet with refined, graphite-infused black fruit that simply oozes class. The palate is medium-bodied with sapid black fruit and wonderful symmetry, fresh and tensile with a persistent, tobacco-tinged finish that could only come from Pauillac. Wonderful. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting.
About the producer
In 1978 the Borie family took over Grand-Puy-Lacoste and Xavier Borie has been making exceptional wines here ever since. With 58 hectares of vines around the château, this is a wine with real Pauillac style.