Grand Puy Lacoste 2001

The 2001 Grand Puy-Lacoste is a vintage that I have not tasted for a decade. It’s showing some signs of bricking on the rim. The bouquet does not quite have the intensity of the previous vintage, but it unfolds nicely to reveal a mélange of red and black fruit, tertiary aromas, gravel and cedar. The palate is medium-bodied with sappy black fruit, grippy and much more youthful than the 2000, though it does not quite have the same complexity and terroir expression on the elegant finish. 2021 - 2050

Good deep black crimson. Very nicely balanced and evolved. Very complete. Lifted and beautifully balanced. Very fresh and precise. Not as concentrated as some vintages of this wine (almost light!) but lovely now.

Tasted at the chateau, the 2001 at ten years of age has superb intensity on the nose with black cherries, melted tar, graphite and cold black tea all with fine vigour and vivacity. The palate is medium-bodied with a cohesive, quite powerful entry that sets the stage for a very poised, focused GPL. From its rather awkward showings out of barrel, the 2001 is blossoming into a sublime expression of Pauillac in this vintage. I would still afford it more time though. Tasted March 2011.