1978 Château Gruaud Larose

Community Tasting Notes (80) Avg Score: 90.3 points

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  1/31/2024 - dchain Likes this wine: 93 Points

  Wow- stunning bottle and levels and this was clear ruby and looking like a 1990 rather than a 1978! So fresh and amazingly open on the nose. Lots of black and red cherry still but with lovely overlay of leather, soil, autumnal leaves, black tea and truffle notes. So clean and energetic still on the palate with the freshness of acidity and no hard edges. You just wanted to keep drinking this- delicious and perfect aged Bordeaux at bargain basement prices if you can still find it!

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  12/24/2023 - Fatty Cat wrote: 93 Points

  Xmas eve dinner 2023: decanted for approx. 3 hours (cold storage); dark crimson brown color; intense bouquet of strawberries, mocha and spices; with a mild, however juicy, racy acidic texture on the palate.
  
  This Gruaud Larose 1978 surprised everybody on the dinner table. The label of the bottle looked worn out (see picture), but not so the wine. While certain signs of decline could be detected, today the wine performed on a clearly excellent level.

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  10/27/2023 - sirpat00 wrote: 93 Points

  Double decanted. Plethora of exciting aging notes of tobacco, wet earth, black truffles and leather – this actually smells like the beginning of Autumn. Still fresh red cherry fruit, but also darker plum. The fruit linearly gains in intensity with aeration. Tannin has become ultra-soft but is still present enough to help build an amazing structure.

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  9/16/2023 - ankitmehra Likes this wine: 94 Points

  Perhaps I'm flying too close to the sun with this vintage, but wow, my second bottle in three months and yet another joy to drink. Very similar notes to the bottle opened in July, but contrary to that bottle, the spice didn't fade this time around. The fruit was still intact, albeit fading slightly towards the end, but the earthiness and spices from the last bottle carried over this time around as well. No more bottles of this wine left sadly, but maybe that's a sign not to push my luck!

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  9/5/2023 - JonnyG Likes this wine: 92 Points

  Once the substantial barnyard aromatics blew off, there was a lot to like here. The green notes resonated, along with some black cherries and white pepper. Good concentration.

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