2011 Château Grand-Puy-Ducasse
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Tasting notes
Fine and bright, lean though and the tannins seem a little burdensome for the fruit but time will tell
Critic scores
Jeff Leve, The Wine Cellar Insider
James Suckling
More reviews and scores
The 2011 Grand Puy Ducasse has a well defined bouquet with blackberry, briary and light tobacco scents, gaining complexity in the glass. The palate is simple, quite austere and lacks some depth, just a little green on the finish. Tasted blind at the annual 10-Year-On tasting.
Tasted blind. Unclean nose. Very severe and pinched on the end. Unashamedly tannic and dry. For classicists. (JR)
53% Cabernet Sauvignon, 47% Merlot. Vineyard restructuring, which had begun in 2006, was accelerated. In the winery, a new horizontal pneumatic press was acquired, along with equipment to improve the control of fermentation and maceration temperatures. Air conditioning in the barrel storehouses was upgraded. Mid crimson. Sweet start and then lots of chew. Drying tannins on the end but it may well come right. There is an appetising freshness. (JR)
About the producer
The 40 hectares of this Pauillac Fifth Growth are spread across three sites, pieced together in the 18th century by Pierre Ducasse. Today owned by France’s Crédit Agricole bank, they have some very fine vineyard land, with their northernmost plot neighbouring Mouton and Lafite.