Château Grand Puy Lacoste, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac, 2016

Name: Château Grand Puy Lacoste, 5ème Cru Classé, Pauillac
Brand: Château Grand Puy Lacoste
Price: 381.53 GBP

Available Vintages

all 2007 2016 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

justerini & brooks tasting note

It is always a joy to taste Xavier Borie's Grand Puy Lacoste, there is such elegance to the fruit here and a wonderful sense of cohesion and effortless charm. The 2016 is crafted from 79% Cabernet Sauvignon and 21% Merlot from the gravel croupes above the village of Bages. This is an aristocratic GPL with perhaps even more refinement that usual. The bouquet offers notes of lilacs, pencil lead, cool cherry notes and Asian spice. This is so ethereal and lovely. There is a purity and energy to the fruit that is so alluring, it is sleek, refined and taut with pure crème de cassis and gravel notes that slide across the palate. We rate this is the most assured and authoritative GPLs we can remember tasting; we thought the 2015 was wonderful - this is on another realm.

critic reviews

95/100Lisa Perrotti-Brown,The Wine Independent

The 2016 Grand-Puy-Lacoste is deep garnet-purple in color. It springs with vibrant notes of crushed blackcurrants and juicy blackberries, plus suggestions of unsmoked cigars, lilacs, and dusty soil. The medium-bodied palate is tightly wound with black fruit and earthy layers, supported by firm, grainy tannins and just enough freshness, finishing long.

DRINKING WINDOW 2022 - 2047

date of review 09/2022

97/100Jane Anson,Inside Bordeaux

Inky red in colour, the fruits are concentrated and knitted down and need some coaxing out of the glass to really open up - make sure you carafe this even if leaving for another few years, and enthusiastically swirl to let that oxygen in. As it opens you start to appreciate just how great this wine is - so balanced, so Pauillac, feathered but rich tannins, zero dip through the mid palate, black truffle, graphite and pencil lead set against cassis cassis and a little more cassis. The tertiary flavours won't come in for at least another decade, because everything here is so concentrated. Everything that you love about Grand Puy Lacoste is right here in this glass, and a vintage that shows what truly ripe fruits brings to Cabernet Sauvignon. Harvest September 28 to October 13. 75% new oak.

DRINKING WINDOW 2026 - 2044

date of review 10/2021

97/100Neal Martin,Vinous

The 2016 Grand Puy-Lacoste has a clean, precise bouquet with nicely detailed blackberry, briar and tobacco aromas, touches of mint emerging with time, all utterly charming. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannins and a fine bead of acidity, conveying a sense of symmetry throughout and leading into a deft, quite persistent finish. This is very classy, and it should age with style. Tasted blind at the Southwold tasting.

DRINKING WINDOW 2023 - 2055

date of review 08/2020

94+/100Lisa Perrotti-Brown,Robert Parker Wine Advocate

The deep garnet-purple colored 2016 Grand-Puy-Lacoste gives up pure kirsch and red and black currants with violets and baking spices. Medium-bodied, firm and grainy, it's very expressive with good concentration and length.

DRINKING WINDOW 2021 - 2039

date of review 11/2018