This overachieving Pauillac Fifth Growth has produced quite charmimg and consistently high quality claret since the Chateau was acquired by the Borie family in 1978. I've been fortunate enough to enjoy many vintages of G-P-L from the late seventies into the mid-eighties. The 1982 being totally spectacular on both occasions I've had the immense pleasure trying it. The 1979 will never be regarded by the international media as the finest wine the Borie's have produced but on the many times I've been lucky to share a bottle with close wine-loving friends, we've never been disappointed.
Exhibits a gorgeous polished cloak consisting of a medium ruby centre with abundant red brick in the edges grading to amber and brown in the meniscus. The classical Pauillac bouquet reveals a melange of integrated, mature scents of lead pencil, cedar, damp earth, forest floor, red bing cherry, damson plum and spice box with top notes of tar, mineral and blood. With extended breathing the totality and breadth of aroma gains intensity and a higher qualitative rating - quite a surprise for its advancing years. In the mouth the wine, similarly, merits an exemplary rating. Fully developed and at the peak of its powers, the palate delivers a smooth and beautifully-honed personality. Of medium body, with fully resolved flavours that mimic the nose to a tee, there's still enough cleansing acidity and resolute melting chalky tannin to counter the cool plummy/herb-tinged fruit to suggest another few years of pleasurable drinking could be afforded if provenance has been similar to that of this particular bottle. This Outstanding Grand-Puy-Lacoste finishes with great persistence and authority and a well-deserved rating of 90 points.