2025 Grand-Puy-Lacoste (Pauillac)

Vibrant, in the spirit of the 2025 vintage, cloves, capsicum, blueberry and cassis fruits, plenty of delicious texture, lovely sappy and bright juice, firm tannins, appellation typicity, crayon and mint leaf. First year for the new cellar. 65% new oak for ageing 94 points

The 2025 Grand-Puy-Lacoste reveals a classic, refined bouquet of cassis, dark berries, cedar and lead pencil, with discreet floral nuances. Medium- to full-bodied, structured and precise, it’s built around a well-defined core of fruit framed by finely grained, youthful, filigreed tannins with a tensile profile. Less demonstrative than some of its peers in Pauillac, it privileges balance and typicity over sheer power, concluding with a long, elegant and mineral finish. Produced from a blend of 76% Cabernet Sauvignon and 24% Merlot, this is the first vintage vinified in the estate’s new gravity-fed cellar, enabling more precise parcel selection - an evolution that appears to reinforce the wine’s precision and coherence. 95-97 points

The 2025 Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a relatively fruity, soft wine for the chateau, notwithstanding the warm, dry year and yields 30 hectoliters per hectare (in line with the appellation, but much less than the norm). This is the first vintage Grand-Puy-Lacoste made in their new cellar, so the more vibrant style is not a total surprise. Even so, there is no question that 2025 opens the door to a new chapter. Stylistically, it is quite different from the wines that have preceded it. 92-94 points

The 2025 Grand-Puy-Lacoste is the first to be made in the new gravity-fed winery. It was picked between September 4 and 18 at 30 hl/ha, much lower than normal, with a high percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon (76%). Matured in 65% new oak, it has a perfumed bouquet with blackberry and raspberry fruit, touches of graphite emerging with aeration, beautifully defined. The palate is medium-bodied with edgy tannins. Definitely one of the most refined GPLs that I have tasted at this stage, very harmonious, complex and engaging. Superb persistence on the finish, this is a complete Pauillac that is going to give immense pleasure. 94-96 points