Grand Puy Lacoste 1986

This wine is the finest Grand-Puy-Lacoste produced after 1982 and before 1995. The 1986 still possesses an impressive deep ruby/purple color, as well as a classic nose of cedar, blackcurrants, smoke, and vanillin. Full-bodied, powerful, authoritatively rich, and loaded with fruit, this wine's solid lashing of tannin is not likely to melt away for 3-4 more years. It can be drunk, although it is backward and unyielding. Certainly, it is one of the better northern Medocs of the vintage. Anticipated maturity: Now-2012. Last tasted 6/97

First tasted blind in June 2001 when it displayed its typical, cedary Pauillac qualities, but was immensely backward. Then in June 2005 at the GPL vertical. A moderate garnet rim. A foursquare tobacco and green pepper nose: very classic and traditional, though I would have preferred to see more fruit aromatics somewhere in there. The palate is very dense with great weight and hefty tannins. Less ripeness than the 1982 with a bit of astringency on the finish. A "thick skinned wine" I wrote, although it improved with an hour in the glass, becoming more supple and sweeter. Leave for another 5 years. Tasted again in May 2006 at The Arches. A lovely, very Pauillac-style nose with pencil-lead and cedar with great definition. The palate has lovely balance, quite reserved and conservative, but surfeit with vigor and complexity. Blackberry, graphite and cigar box. Good length. Classic claret, me thinks.