1995 Grand Puy Lacoste
By Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste
1995 Grand Puy Lacoste from Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste, Pauillac, Bordeaux
Upon revisiting the 1995 Grand Puy Lacoste from Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste, one is reminded of the remarkable quality and resilience of the 1995 vintage in Pauillac. In what was a crucial year for Bordeaux, one where the proverbial vineyard's stars aligned, this classic embodiment of the region benefits from both time and terroir.
Divining the Depths: A Vintage's Voice
The season's providential conditions—dry, optimally timed warmth and sunlight followed by an ideally temperate September—allowed for grapes of profound ripeness and balance. These climatic gifts are now transposed into a mature wine that has developed a resplendent array of complexities over nearly three decades in bottle.
In the glass, the 1995 Grand Puy Lacoste unfurls like a tapestry of equilibrated power and elegance—a composition layered with mature blackcurrant, cedar, and evocative wafts of tobacco and leather. Notes of dried violets and an undercurrent of graphite give way to a structure that is assertive yet refined—a hallmark trait of this esteemed Pauillac estate.
A Symphony in Sustainment: Sipping Towards Sophistication
Tannins that were once youthfully grippy have relaxed into a seamless support for the wine's remaining cassis purity—a testament to vinicultural prophecy rightly fulfilled. The length on the palate does full justice to the vintage's heralded concentration; it lingers with the poise and grace merited by such an eminent provenance.
For aficionados investing in fine wines—a pursuit as much art as it is science—the 1995 Grand Puy Lacoste represents a particularly sage choice. This wine confronts the connoisseur with an equally corporeal and cerebral pleasure, carrying with it the impeccable pedigree of its vintage and storied terroir.
As the years progress, so does the narrative of the 1995 vintage from Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste—it continues to captivate and offer depths to explore. It remains one of Bordeaux's eminent expressions and a distinguished addition to any discerning collection.
Market price (GBP)
£1,420.00
12x75cl
Highest score
95
POP score
94.67
Scores and tasting notes
Another unbelievably rich, multidimensional, broad-shouldered wine, with slightly more elegance and less weight than the powerhouse 1996, this gorgeously proportioned, medium to full-bodied, fabulously ripe, rich, cassis-scented and flavored Grand-Puy-Lacoste is a beauty. It should be drinkable within 4-5 years, and keep for 25-30. This classic Pauillac is a worthy rival to the other-worldly 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2002-2025. Wow! What extraordinary wines Grand-Puy-Lacoste has produced in both 1995 and 1996. At present, I have a marginal preference for the blockbuster 1996, but I am not about to argue with anybody who prefers the 1995! Both are compelling wines.
Robert Parker Jr - The Wine Advocate, 22 February 1998
Tasted at The Ledbury at the Grand Puy Lacoste dinner. Contrasting the 1995 against the 1996, the delicious 1995 is probably drinking sooner. The nose is delightful with fine delineation: crisp red berried fruit, raspberry and wild strawberry interlaced with cedar and mint. The palate is well defined with a great sense of tension and vigour. Very fine, crisp tannins married with lively red fruits that want to leap out of the glass. There are hints of tobacco and cedar towards the finish that shows fine persistency, if not the complexity of other vintages. Simply delicious to drink. Tasted September 2011.
Neal Martin - Wine Journal Jan 2012