Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1979

No tasting note available

Very deep colour with youthful highlights. On the nose, a generous bouquet of berries, blackcurrant and prunes, with complex fullness and an underlying, promising terroir expression. A fleshy palate with a fine tannin-acidity framework and truffle notes. A great GPL, among the best wines of the vintage.

Unfortunately, bottle quality varies greatly. The consolation is that probably a good two thirds are very good bottlings. I drank it often and bought another case several times. I paid exactly 26.10 francs for the first bottles at Max Gerstl in 1986! In 1991 I noted: It is of such artisanal perfection that I dare to claim that, together with Lafite and Margaux, it belongs among the very finest ’79s. If you also take its value for money and its ability to age into account, it is the best ’79 of all. The most perfect bottle I drank—after the 64er Cheval and the 75er Pétrus—was worth 19/20 points to me. 1992 a double magnum: the tremendous experience on the occasion of a “large-bottle evening” at Seppi Kalberer’s, at the Schlüssel in Mels. A great Bordeaux from the good old days! In the same year, at a blind tasting of ’79s, it put all the Pauillac first growths in the shade: rich nose; blackberries, blueberries, smoke, truffle, powerful terroir note. On the palate leather, sweet, well-knit with lots of extract; the astringency still suggests further potential. A top-class Cabernet! And another double magnum in 1994: the wine was best right after decanting; then it shut down and for an hour remained rather dry and rustic. 96: Very deep color with youthful highlights. Full berry, cassis and baked-plum bouquet; complex richness, with a promising terroir tone underneath. Fleshy body, good tannin-acid framework, truffle note. A great GPL, among the best wines of the 1979 vintage. 02: Bought another case at 50 francs per bottle and drank it again several times. Fully mature—but what a maturity! 04: Served at lunchtime on an alpine pasture at the semester rarities tasting in Spiez. Great, round wine with plenty of drinking pleasure. (18/20). 17: Medium ruby, showing clear maturity. Peppery bouquet with delicate iodine and leather notes, earthy but also truffly. On the palate finely meaty with ripe tannins, showing wonderfully warm, mature Bordeaux character. Lots of pleasure and conveys an unsuspected greatness for this not entirely easy vintage. This was the first vintage under the new Borie stewardship. This wonderful 1979 is still one of the best Bordeaux of that year today.

A spicy, powerful, multi-layered bouquet: blackcurrant, plum, mahogany, smoke, black cassis. A balanced, dense, classic, finely dry palate with intense aromatics, good tannins, a rustic structure, and a long, full finish. 19/20 drink - 2020

Bordeaux red color. Dark. Good intensity. Evolved and bright. Nose of medium intensity. Slightly mineral or reductive note. Needs aeration. With swirling, meaty notes. Fruit somewhat muted. Fur. Evolved. A soft, almost sweet attack unfolding into a round, juicy, flavorful, well-balanced structure, finishing with good length, still fruity, fresh and slightly spicy, but with a slight lack of concentration. Ready to drink.

Although fully mature since the mid-eighties, this wine has held on to its fruit and charm with no signs of decline. It offers moderately intense aromas of berries, herbs, and toasty oak, round, graceful, medium-bodied, moderately concentrated flavors, and a silky finish. It should be drunk before the end of the decade. Last tasted, 5/93.