2005 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Pauillac, Bordeaux

78% Cabernet Sauvignon, 22% Merlot. 45 hl/ha.

Dark, youthful crimson, pretty well to the rim. Dense, even a touch reserved with blackcurrant and graphite notes in the background. Concentrated on the palate, the tannins plentiful, tight and strong. Plenty of Pauillac power but with a generosity of fruit as well. Punch and length on the finish. Not quite the purity and precision of the present era but clearly a top year.

A fabulous GPL. Perhaps better than the legendary 1982? It shows laser-guide precision on the palate with aromas of currants, cedar, mint, flowers and chocolate. Full-bodied and extremely finely textured on the palate, lasting for minutes. A joy to drink now. Get some.

Tasted blind. Lustrous dark crimson. Not much nose. Thick and sweet, with the tannins well melded. Pungent, cordite quality. A good mid-term stage reached in its evolution whereby it’s drinkable but has lots left to give.

Drink 2016 - 2040

Shaded crimson still! Classic firm Pauillac with great balance and zestiness. One of the most comfortable wines in this collection. Pure Pauillac with a definite future but no rough edges. Real drive. So neat and perfect! GV

The 2005 is taking its time to come around fully, and this will still improve over the next five to 10 years, but it is starting to live up to expectations. It is packed with truffles, tar, cigar box, soy, black tea, campfire smoke, and smoked earth. A classic Grand-Puy-Lacoste from an effortlessly balanced vintage. Harvest September 22 to October 5, 70% new oak.

Drink 2022 - 2040

One of the 2005s that I have drunk most regularly, and it always delivers. Still on top form for this tasting, dark ruby in colour, primary in its fruit expression. Tightrope balance of fruit and tannins, just emerging into its drinking window. Pencil lead, smoked earth, sandalwood, spice, eucalyptus, mint, pencil lead, cassis. A 40 year wine from this point on. Appellation signature in a glass. Needs carafing to fully open up, and then it's game on. Harvest September 22 to October 5, 70% new oak.

The 2005 is taking its time to fully come around and this will still improve over the next five to 10 years, but it is starting to live up to expectations. Packed with truffles, tar, and cigar box, soy, black tea, campfire smoke, smoked earth. A classic Grand-Puy-Lacoste, from an effortlessly balanced vintage. Harvest September 22 to October 5, 70% new oak.

This is a benchmark GPL.  You can always rely on this estate to nail it, with civil tones and unwavering accuracy.  Smooth, calm, rewarding and drinking well, there is enough acidity and tannin to hold it upright, now that it is at the peak of its powers.  A magnum looks to be the steal in this company!

The 2005 Grand-Puy-Lacoste has a punchy bouquet of red and black fruit with light touches of wild mint and sage. This is actually a little Right Bank in style so it lacks a bit of typicité. The palate is medium-bodied with smooth tannins on the entry, slightly savoury red berry fruit and hints of iodine and sage. The 2005 is quite a medicinal G.P.L., with an open finish to suggest that bottles can be drunk now and over the next 15 to 20 years. Tasted at the château.

The Château Grand Puy Lacoste 2005 has a brilliant, classic pencil-lead nose that is Pauillac through and through. There is no messin’ about here. The palate is very well-defined, with excellent acidity, great depth of black fruit and an astonishingly precise finish that just takes your breath away. Is it the best 2005 of the vintage? Not quite, but it belongs in the top tier. Factor in value for money; I would be happy sitting on a big pile of this in my cellar to drink over the rest of my lifetime and the afterlife, if that exists, too.

Drink 2020 - 2060

The brilliant 2005 Grand-Puy-Lacoste exhibits classic Pauillac aromas, creme de cassis flavours, and stony/floral notes. Proprietor Xavier Borie has created a wine that should rival the brilliant 1982, 1990, 1996, and 2000. Full-bodied with sweet tannin and superb length a 40+ second finish), the purity of this beauty’s black currant fruit is something to behold. 

Anticipated maturity: 2013 - 2030

Medium red. Very ripe aromas of plum and musky brown spices; redder in character and less precise than the 2006. Then big, sweet and plump on the palate, with full, mellow flavours of red berries, tobacco and mocha, plus a light smoked meat note. Finishes with sweet tannins and lingering, fully ripe fruit. This is showing its lush side today and is hiding its underlying structure.

The team here harvested Grand Puy Lacoste and Haut Batailley from September 21 until October 4, stopping twice for a half-day: once due to rain and the second time to do more leaf-pulling. Director Francois-Xavier Borie did a bit of reverse osmosis for the cabernet in 2007 but avoided saignee, then fermented a bit cooler than usual, with less remontage. 

Both his Grand Puy Lacoste and Haut Batailley will go into bottle with moderate alcohol levels because, he said, "we can't have too much alcohol for the structure of the vintage."

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.