1981 Château Gruaud Larose

Red Bordeaux Blend

Jamie Manley wrote: 93 points

July 8, 2017 - Coming right after the 85, I was expecting a major drop off here. I would be wrong...are you kidding me?! Given the vintage, this wine should be fading quickly, but not so. They must have made better corks in 1981, because every fill in this case was/is mid neck or better. Case of 85 from exact same provenance had significantly lower fills, though the 85 is still clearly the better wine, but not by as much as you would think. I was really taken by this wine, maybe it is the underdog status. It is a classic Cordier Gruaud Larose, just on a slightly smaller scale, and not a lot smaller. All of the hallmarks of 80's era GL, great fruit, tobacco, earth, graphite, black tea, and pencil. A great package for south of $70 per bottle, so much better than similarly priced "Smuckers for Snowflakes" bottles these days. 93 Pts

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Purple Tooth commented:

7/8/17, 12:30 PM - Here here...This is an under the radar and much ignored crop by good ole GL. You had the same experience I had with it. Same with the 83, its even better than 81 and close to the 82 if you can imagine...
Jamie Manley commented:

7/9/17, 10:25 AM - Purple Tooth, I agree completely, older GL rocks. Quality/price ratio, 83 is probably the best buy right now. But I am an 85 whore, so I went with a case of 81 and 85, and passed on the 83. I had to save some funds to add some more 82. I love older GL and a lot of it flies under the radar. Cheers, my friend!
Purple Tooth commented:

7/9/17, 10:43 AM - The 85 is the only damn vintage I don't have in my collection. Just checked..have all other good years...66,70,78,81,82,83,86,88,89,90,95,96,99,00,01,04,05,06,08,09,10,11.....I stopped at 11, thinking I may not live long enough to enjoy anything after. Missed the damn 85! I don't know why and how. As you can tell, I am a Gruaud whore as well as a St. Julien feen so most Gruaud notes pop up on my radar. My collection contains 80% bordeaux and 40% is St. Julien. Cheers and thanks for writing.
Jamie Manley commented:

7/10/17, 4:04 PM - You're welcome! That's a great GL collection that you have. I am down to 81, 82, 85, 86, and 01. I blew through my 88, 89, and 90 quite a while ago. I prefer the beefier, first half of the 80's decade. If you can find some 85, highly recommended. Cheers!