2022 CHÂTEAU GRUAUD LAROSE 2ème Cru Classé Saint Julien, Lea & Sandeman

CHÂTEAU GRUAUD LAROSE

2022 2ème Cru Classé Saint Julien

Colour Red
Origin France, Bordeaux
Sub-district Haut Médoc
Village Saint Julien
Classification 2ème Cru Classé
ABV 13.5%

The 2022 Gruaud Larose was picked from 7 to 24 September and includes a little more pressed wine this year: 13.5% exclusively from Cabernet Sauvignon due to the quality. This latest vintage matured for a planned 18 months in 95% new oak. Significantly, this is the first year under organic certification (notice two storks on the label signifying this. Maybe they are carrying a little Gruaud baby?) At 13.64% alcohol, this is less than many other properties for those seeking slower intoxication. It has an impressive bouquet with pure blackberry and raspberry fruit, black truffle and sous-bois scents. I am impressed by its delineation and focus; frankly, these are the nicest aromatics I've encountered for a while at this address. The palate is medium-bodied with fine-grain tannins. I cannot remember a Gruaud at this nascent stage that exhibits this level of energy and tension deriving from the Cabernet Sauvignon extracted at the beginning of vinification. There's much more precision here. Mineral-driven toward the finish, this easily surpasses vintages made at the estate over the last decade and more. Perhaps like the legendary Gruauds of old (1982, 1961, 1928, even 1870)? Gruaud reborn. Drinking range: 2028 - 2070 Rating: 95-97 Neal Martin, www.vinous.com (May 2023)


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Spicy, intense and concentrated, and yet delivers juicy drinkability from beginning to end, not an easy balance to achieve in 2022. The vintage trace comes through in notes of tobacco, dried herbs, cloves and sandalwood, with tannic build up through the palate, but it is balanced by fresh mint leaf, cassis, bilberry, cocoa bean, and salinity. Firm tannic architecture, excellent quality. 33% of production in the 1st wine, 95% new oak. mint, Drinking range: 2030 - 2050 Rating: 96 Jane Anson, www.janeanson.com (Apr 2023)

83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot, 3% Cabernet Franc. 95% new oak. 13.64% alc. This wine has a slightly menacing edge, and the stats and flavours bear this out. Big Cab, big oak, keen alcohol (particularly considering the vintage) and one of the most unwavering and no-nonsense flavours of the year make this an unnervingly impressive wine. While I don’t love it, as in really love it, and it is not pretty, it is awe-inspiring. Like brutalist architecture, and I suppose the odd-looking watchtower in the vineyard at Gruaud, I admire these buildings but don’t love them. So it follows that I greatly admire this wine with its naked spice, intricate sinew and bulletproof carapace of fruit, and it will age metronomically, and I hope that one day it will find tenderness and relax a little, but I am not betting on it. If you are lining up to buy a case, make sure that you bookend this purchase with two more kindly and more relaxed wines because you will need them when you come to open a bottle of 2022 GL. Rating: 18.5+ Matthew Jukes www.matthewjukes.com (May 2023)

This is the first vintage in which the property is certified organic. The blend is 83% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot and 3% Cabernet Franc, all currently resting in 95% new oak. The yield was 30 hl/ha in total, divided between the two wines, with some sold off in bulk. This has a very convincing nose, with griottes, violets, rose petals and dark chocolate, very cleanly expressed. This translates onto a deliciously harmonious palate, with a supple and velvety core of dark fruits, with currants, toast, violets and dark chocolate, set in a delicious texture, supported by a fine-grained core of tannins. This is very convincing, very cleanly defined, with good energy and cohesion, and a rich, ripe tannic grip nicely hidden within. Is this the highest score I have given Gruaud-Larose for some years? Probably. The alcohol is 13.64%. Rating: 93-95 Chris Kissack, www.thewinedoctor.com (May 2023)

Château Gruaud Larose

St Julien Deuxième cru 1855 The story of Château Gruaud Larose starts with Joseph Stanislas Gruaud who developed the estate in the early 18th Century. Two of his descendents ended up with different halves of the Gruaud estate until, in 1778, Chevalier de Gruaud died and left his portion to his son-in-law Joseph Sébastien de la Rose who immediately appended his name to the estate. Gruaud-Larose was split further in 1867, with Château Gruaud-Larose-Sarget and Château Gruaud-Larose-Faure being seperate until 1935 when the Cordier family, who'd bought the Sarget half in 1919, bought Gruaud-Larose-Faure and put the old estate back together again. Ownership by the Cordiers, and the association with other similarly labelled wines in the portfolio - Talbot, Meyney - kept Château Gruaud Larose as a consistent favourite among Bordeaux lovers. Gruaud-Larose is now owned by the Taillan Group. There are 82ha of vineyard, just to the south west of Beychevelle - 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec. A second wine was introduced in 1979 - Sarget de Gruaud-Larose. Gruaud-Larose is among the fuller-bodied styles of St Julien, producing consistently good wines and, whilst the crown of "best estate in St Julien" sits with Leoville Las Cases, the wines of Gruaud-Larose are always worth following.

This wine isn't currently part of a mixed case, but you can always browse our full selection of mixed cases here.
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