Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2020

#18 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2023

Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2020 is a textbook example of the excellence of the Pauillac terroir. This vintage blends 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, creating a structure that is classic in comparison to the 2018 and 2019 vintages. Upon tasting, aromas of ripe red fruit, violets and spices, as well as an attractive fresh minerality, become apparent. The attack is precise and long with ripe, melted tannins, creating a wine of great balance, elegance, and freshness. Experience ultimate purity in this exquisite red.

Blend: 76% Cabernet Sauvignon, 24% Merlot

Wine Spectator: 96
A nice, tightly coiled Pauillac, with a blitz of iron and savory notes wrapped around a core of cassis, damson plum and black cherry. Sleek and tightly focused, with the iron note leaving a mouthwatering echo. Plenty tight through the finish too, so patience is needed here. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

Wine Advocate: 94
The 2020 Grand-Puy-Lacoste is excellent, offering up aromas of cassis and plums mingled with pencil shavings, violets and loamy soil framed by a touch of creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, pure and fleshy, with lively acids, powdery tannins and good depth at the core, its supple, charming style belies considerable aging potential. It's a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot. Best After 2025.

Wine Advocate: 94

The 2020 Grand-Puy-Lacoste is excellent, offering up aromas of cassis and plums mingled with pencil shavings, violets and loamy soil framed by a touch of creamy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, pure and fleshy, with lively acids, powdery tannins and good depth at the core, its supple, charming style belies considerable aging potential. It's a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot. Best After 2025.

Decanter: 95
Enjoyable, powerful, concentrated, not the most generous of GPLs but they have captured the essence of Pauillac, and it's hard to resist. Sappy juicy finish, full of cassis, mint leaf and pencil lead along the way with a clear tightness to the tannic frame.

James Suckling: 97
This full-bodied red builds on the palate in a fantastic way with tight, compact tannins that grow and grow on the finish. Plenty of blackcurrant and graphite character and a flavorful finish. Same level as the excellent 2016.

Jeb Dunnuck: 95
The 2020 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a more fleshy, textured Pauillac that still plays in the concentrated, focused, structured style of the vintage. Ripe black cherries, currants, toasty oak, chocolate, and tobacco leaf notes give way to a medium to full-bodied, richly textured 2020 that has velvety tannins, good mid-palate depth, and a great finish. Do your best to hide bottles for 4-5 years and enjoy over the following 20-25 years or so.

Jeb Dunnuck: 95

The 2020 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a more fleshy, textured Pauillac that still plays in the concentrated, focused, structured style of the vintage. Ripe black cherries, currants, toasty oak, chocolate, and tobacco leaf notes give way to a medium to full-bodied, richly textured 2020 that has velvety tannins, good mid-palate depth, and a great finish. Do your best to hide bottles for 4-5 years and enjoy over the following 20-25 years or so.