Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste
5th Growth Grand Cru Classe
Pauillac
2009

The producer

Unusually for Bordeaux chateaux, Grand Puy Lacoste’s 90 hectares of vineyards are located in one block surrounding the 19^th century chateau on deep gravel beds. This may be because the estate has had only three owners since its creation in the mid-16^th century thus there have been few interruptions and break-ups of the land holdings. Grand Puy Lacoste has been owned and run by the Borie family since 1978 and the vineyards, which now comprise 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc, are located west of the town of Pauillac.

With a traditional approach to winemaking Grand Puy Lacoste has been a quiet achiever for decades and does not rest on its laurels. Continued work on improvements in vineyards and cellar has resulted in wines which are not far behind the area’s First Growths – Not bad for a Fifth Growth! Grand Puy Lacoste is a structured Cabernet Sauvignon dominant wine with a muscular structure wrapped in velvety and silky tannins. Patience is advised … and rewarded.

This is very good Bordeaux at an agreeable price.

The wine

Grand Puy Lacoste’s Grand Vin is sourced from fruit in the western part of the Pauillac appellation. Average vine age is 38 years but includes some old vines dating back to the 1950s. The blend varies with vintage and fruit ripeness but is usually composed of minimum 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, complemented with Merlot. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel tanks and is followed by ageing in 60-75% new oak barrels for 16-18 months. A wine of consistency and power, Grand Puy Lacoste is a firmly structured muscular wine with perfumed rich berry fruit and a velvety and silky texture. Patience is advised … and rewarded.

We choose our wines based on a range of criteria (see how we choose our wines) of which critic scores is just one. Rather than simply highlight the best score to promote a wine, our average critic score is calculated from the scores provided by several respected wine critics, who we follow for specific regions. They do not represent all critic scores and, wherever possible, we try and give more weight to more recent reviews. Where appropriate we consider market-based scores like Global Wine Score or Wine Searcher Average scores.

As a rule, we look to offer wines that achieve a 92/100 average critic score or better and frankly a lot of very good wines simply don’t make the cut. As a high-end provider we want to reflect that positioning in the quality of wines we offer. Such wines are only a tiny fraction of those generally on offer in the market. We believe that an average score is a more conservative and representative approach, but it is still subjective and only offered as a guide to our customers, who will (and should) do their own research. We will add individual critic scores to our website in the future.