1986 Château Gruaud Larose

Community Tasting Notes (706) Avg Score: 93.2 points

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  5/5/2024 - Geoff Likes this wine: 97 Points

  In my cellar since release, low neck ullage, excellent cork. 5 hour slo-ox, 1 hour decant off sediment, Still needed more aeration and evolved in the glass during the evening. Dark color, transmitting a little light with a hint of browning on the rim. Extrordinary nose of red and dark fruits, cedar, oak, forest floor, floral notes, secondary and tertiaty notes which is reward enough for opening this bottle and keeps drawing you back just for the joy of the nose itself. Plenty of fruit left and tannins still firm initially, but soften with continued aeration and seem to even sweeten. Long, long enduring finish. The 12.5% alcohol is refreshing and in contrast to the behemoths we so often taste today. This wine is at a very good place right now, but I feel will last for many more years and is probably not yet at it's zenith. This is the 4th bottle of a case and definitely the best so far. Some of the earlier bottles were very astringent with harsh tannins. These are softening and revealing a stunning wine. This is why I love cellaring great wines.

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  4/20/2024 - jkwoodward Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Beautiful as always. Still with amazing fruit.

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  4/6/2024 - Papies wrote: 93 Points

  Lizzie St Supper Club (Lizzie St, London): We decanted as the cork broke but we would not suggest a long decant as the wine ( albeit an 86) can be fragile especially from questionable bottles like ours. But joyful for those who like us reminisce these old classics. Well aged , fully mature but healthy and alive. Our bottle felt like a 92-93 but frankly the wine can score much higher from better sourced specimens.

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  3/8/2024 - Ben Christiansen wrote:

  A little touch musty on the nose, and not as fruited as the others, but still showing. Needs to open up touch of all things.

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  2/17/2024 - sdr Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Outstanding Gruaud. Intense and concentrated. Big flavors of dark cherry. Still young but ready to appreciate. A hint of sweetness. No Cordier funk in this bottle. Delicious wine.

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