2020 Château Grand-Pontet

Community Tasting Notes (4) Avg Score: 90.8 points

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  1/31/2024 - KingsleyZissou Likes this wine: 91 Points

  Found this to be a quite nice right bank despite the immaturity and apparent inclination towards a more New World palate.
  
  Very ripe nose of crushed blackberry, cassis, and violets with just a modicum of loamy, coffee bean notes from the oak. As it continued to open, more of the blue fruit register began to unfold. More of a Napa lovers Merlot.
  
  The palate reveals the softness of the Merlot and Cab Franc with medium-minus tannin and moderate acidity. The wine feels ever so slightly overly lean and angular, but overall a nice young wine — it honestly doesn’t seem to have the structure to hold up to aging in any case. Looks to have been built in a style for drinking now.

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  9/10/2023 - Best QPR Tracker wrote: 90 Points

  Generic and yeasty on the nose, the wine starts mouthwatering but flat with rustic flavors in the register of cold ashtray, almost cauliflower (coming from the 9% of Malbec?). Blind I would have bet on Castillon. Then the wine turns spicy with an overwhelming alcoholic finish. The tannic structure bores my craving for textures, and overall the wine lacks charm and purity of fruit. A poor QPR for me, especially from a wine whose price has inexplicably exploded since its recent buying by Clarence Dillon group. Do not count me among the fans. 89.5
  
  Edit on day 3: a slight leafy expression of more noble fruits from the 25% of Cab Franc appears with discernable bramble. The wine has gained in definition with slow oxydation. I would therefore advise to let your bottles laying in your cellar for some time before popping a cork, or serve with an extensive decant if drunk such young. Revised verdict with an additional half point and, in spite of it all, a positive projection toward the future. 90

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  5/22/2021 - vvWine.ch wrote: 92 Points

  91-93 vvPunkte (39% Merlot, 10% Cabernet-Sauvignon, 39% Cabernet Franc, 12% Malbec) Dunkelfruchtige, noch vom Ausbau geprägte Nase, dunkelfruchtig, Brombeerkonfitüre. Der Auftakt ist weich und rund, erst füllig, wird dann immer schlanker und präziser, der Wein hat richtig gradliniger, zeigt Finesse, markante Gerbstoffe, diese sind fein gewoben und ergänzen die Frucht zu einem harmonischen Gesamtwerk. Dieser Wein bestätigt die gute Qualität des kürzlich verkosteten 2018ers. 2026-2040 (April/Mai 2021)

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  5/20/2021 - Jeff Leve wrote: 90 Points

  Medium-bodied, with notes of wet earth, espresso, licorice, dark red berries and cocoa on the nose. Soft, round, lush and polished, the wine is forward, fruity and a bit oaky at the moment. Give it a few years to come together and it will be an even better wine. 89-91

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