Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2018

Professional Ratings

• 95 Wine Spectator

  Juicy and compact now, with dark currant, blackberry and fig notes at the core, surrounded by lots of warm earth, singed alder and tobacco leaf notes. Cast iron note helps extend the finish, with the fruit and earth notes keeping pace. Has a slight throwback feel, so if you like old school, ageworthy Pauillac, this is your wine. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Best from 2024 through 2038.

• 95 Decanter

  Sweet black cherry fruits, bilberry and hedgerow. A little austere at this stage but confidently so, with a slice of bitter black chocolate. Big Pauillac tannins, no question - a little more prominent than they were en primeur. The wine has taken on weight over ageing so I am slightly extending the drinking window. Harvest 21 September and 5 October. 12% press wine. 75% new oak. Drinking Window 2026 - 2044

• 94 James Suckling

  Cherries and walnuts with dried flowers on the nose. It’s medium-to full-bodied with very fine tannins, creamy texture and a bright, vivid finish. Plenty of currant and tar. Such polish and beauty. Drink after 2023.

• 94 Jeb Dunnuck

  A beautiful Pauillac, the 2018 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste has a classic nose of ripe blackcurrants, scorched earth, cedarwood, and tobacco. This carries to a medium to full-bodied 2018 offering wonderful balance, ripe, polished tannins, and gorgeous purity of fruit. A wine that grows on you with time in the glass, it has building mid-palate depth and tannins, again, terrific balance, remarkable purity of fruit, and outstanding length on the finish. It should round into form in 4-5 years and keep for 20+.

• 94 Wilfred Wong of Wine.com
  COMMENTARY: The 2018 Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste shows greatness from start to finish, and it is built like a tank. TASTING NOTES: This wine offers aromas and flavors of black fruit, mineral notes, savory spices, and oak. Enjoy its powerful presence with grilled beef kebabs in a mushroom, white wine reduction sauce. (Tasted: June 25, 2021, San Francisco, CA)
• 93 Robert Parker's Wine Advocate

  The 2018 Grand-Puy-Lacoste displays a deep garnet-purple color and slowly emerging notes of ripe blackberries, blackcurrant pastilles and redcurrant jelly plus hints of cedar, underbrush, cinnamon stick and potpourri. The medium-bodied palate has well-managed, slightly chewy tannin's and a refreshing line lifting the black and red berry layers, finishing earthy.

• 92 Wine Enthusiast

  This is a relatively soft wine, its tannins already embracing the black-currant fruits. The structure is there, smoothly textured and ripe with fruitiness as well as good acidity. This wine is likely to develop relatively quickly, so drink from 2024.