Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 1982

This is a tour de force, and one of the all-time great Grand-Puy-Lacostes ever produced, as I hope the 2000 and 2005 will become. This is an inky/purple, beefy, broad, super-rich Pauillac revealing classic creme de cassis notes intermixed with hints of spring flowers and crushed rocks. Full-bodied with sweet tannin, shocking concentration, and layers of fruit, this irresistible 1982 is still an adolescent in terms of its evolution. Anticipated maturity: now-2035. Release price: ($85.00/case)

Not as impressive as it once was; nonetheless, a rich and caressing wine. Sweet berry flavor, with hints of tobacco and raisin. Medium- to full-bodied, with velvety tannins and a caressing finish. — 1982 Bordeaux horizontal. Drink now.

Floral aromas mingle with toast and caramel on the nose—both soft and sweet—with crushed rose petals and salty stones alongside dark fruit. Tense and direct on the attack, lively with piercing acidity that’s countered by a crystalline texture and lovely fine tannins that support the frame but are barely there. It has lost its fleshy, overt fruitiness, yet you still get structure, a graceful frame, and lots of polish. It’s well made but is starting to resemble more of a shell of its former self. I still enjoyed it a lot, particularly the minerality, the strength, and the savoury elements.

The 1982 Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a vintage that I have enjoyed many times, and this is another great example. There is just a light bricking on the rim. The nose is mature, with blackberry, pencil box and a touch of pressed rose petals. The palate has backbone and grip, tropes of this Pauillac Grand Cru Classé. Perhaps it is a little “correct” and straightforward on the entry, but aeration benefits it no end; harmonious and structured with a touch of spice on the finish. So youthful, given that it is now 43 years old… or young! At point. Tasted single blind at the 1982 dinner at Cornus in London.

Classic Pauillac, with firmness, strict tannins, and loads of cedar, tobacco, cigar box, and currants. The palate is on the old-school austere side of the style range, and not quite as good as I remember it being. So, if you have been waiting, do not hold off. Drink from 2025-2032.

Deep garnet-ruby. Spicy, concentrated nose of almost overripe fruit, with noble opulence. A powerhouse on the palate, still built on fresh fruit, brimming with extract sweetness, rustic charm, a small Latour in its constellation and a characterful wine par excellence, pure drinking pleasure, aromas that echo for minutes, wonderful, with potential for another 20 years in this brilliant form.

At the latest here, many Bordeaux connoisseurs should have had a lightbulb moment. Back in 1991 at Louis Robin in Chénas, following the Mövenpick Beaujolais selection (around 200 wines!), this wine was an almost overwhelming experience: first opening on the nose, opulent and classically traditional. Robust, healthy palate structure of a Bordeaux style that sadly is rare today. Above all, I was struck by the stunning blueberry note. Ten years after its birth, still deep, almost opaque in color. A blueberry concentrate with little acidity but intense tannins that make up for that shortfall (didn’t the ’53s and ’59s also have low acidity?). A great wine that will especially delight those who bought it en primeur at about 22 francs. In 1992, the secret star of a blind tasting of ’82s: sweet nose, lingonberries, cream, coffee, burnt sugar. Opening Merlot with lots of charm, supported by well-structured Cabernet with a spicy tobacco note, honeyed finish. A sensational 19/20-point wine. 00 (19/20): Plummy, sweet bouquet with plenty of volume, expansive, gentle Malaga tone, indicating heat. On the palate again velvety fullness, lots of charm, ripe tannins, flesh, chocolate finish. A mouthful of Pauillac! 05: The magnum was decanted for two hours. That was a lot of fun. Before that we drank Latour 1982. Two mega experiences from Pauillac. If you don’t become aware of a very good life in such great wine moments, you don’t belong in the pleasure category. (19/20). 07: I took a magnum from my cellar for the Waldgargtenstamm. Truly Pauillac. And great Pauillac. I’d love to directly compare it with Mouton from magnum sometime. I wouldn’t mind—if both win. 08: After one magnum at the château poured terribly and the second still a little, I opened a magnum at home for our friends Romy and Kaspar Bättig. That’s greatness and fun in one. You really have to force yourself not to take gulps that are too big at once. 09: Magnum: dense, dark garnet, few signs of maturity for a 25-year-old wine. Great, fine, sweet Cabernet Sauvignon, fine leather notes, traces of black currant, tobacco. Currants, honey, a dry sweetness. On the palate, an orgy of a ripe, great Pauillac, full-bodied, sweet and with an intoxicating finish. Not quite as great as Mouton or Latour, but much, much cheaper. (19/20). 10: Sometimes at such tastings I spontaneously help with pouring and then I grab bottles like this during my “selfless” assistance. Then everyone else gets a little less than usual and I get a little more. Powerful bouquet still showing blackberries and cassis, expansive, of breathtaking beauty, and that starts already on the nose. On the palate, a magnificent, brilliant Pauillac charmer that spontaneously prompts a second sip—if you have one, as I did here. (19/20). 12: Dark wine-red, far fewer signs of maturity than the other magnums of the same series. The intense nose still shows many remnants of fruit, black currant, blackberries, licorice, appears focused with an intoxicating richness. On the palate creamy, softly appealing, and yet there are still supporting, very fine tannins for further years, in the finish focused and very, very long. A dream GPL that belongs among the very best Pauillac, even if that’s no easy feat given the top elite! It was the very last red wine of the long evening and I was actually dead tired. After enjoying this great wine, I was back to full strength! (19/20). 17: Dark wine-red, still dense in the middle, maturing at the rim. Warm, raisiny bouquet, currants, tar, profound, absolutely brilliant and, on the second pass, even showing tiniest remnants of cassis. On the palate ripe, round, full, traveling with lots of charm, focused finish. A great Bordeaux, exactly corresponding to the archetype of the generally phenomenal 1982 vintage. (19/20). P.S. The wine merchant “Caviste Authenique” Paris would still offer an imperial (6-liter) for around 4000 francs…

A silky, dense, opulent, complex bouquet with notes of plum, dried fruit, blackcurrant, cedar, nougat and light tobacco. A dense, balanced, multi-layered palate with superb aromatics, a dense, velvety structure, fine tannins and a very long, concentrated finish. 19/20 drink - 2030

Mature, moderately intense color. Delicate nose with animal, fruity and vanilla notes. Supple, aromatic palate—smooth, with good body without being powerful. Pleasant finish with fine grain and average length. In my view, this wine is in decline. It was flamboyant at 20 years of age. Past its peak, but it will hold as is.