Community Tasting Note
-
Motz wrote: 96 points
December 20, 2017 - Tasted over two days, alongside the same vintage La Dame de Montrose, a 2014 GPL, and a 2014 Chateau Montrose. The wine showed as I remembered it from November 2015, just slightly better integrated. All Pauillac, all the way. Along with tobacco, saddle leather, and funk, this vintage features a tarry smokiness that seems partially terroir imparted and partially the result of barrel char. This element put my mind to the funky, old railroad tie element in d'Armailhac terroir, and it will be interesting to see how it develops.
Impressive weight and expansiveness, with the power of the vintage on prominent display, along with that house style, healthy (a nice word for excessive) smattering of oak. Head-to-head with the same vintage La Dame de Montrose, both wines featured a creamy texture, which with this wine was strongly oak influenced, whereas with the fresher LDM was mostly fruit and terroir imparted.
This may ruffle traditionalist feathers but I am going to write it anyway. I have known since first tasting the 2010 La Dame de Montrose that it represented spectacular QPR, perhaps the highest I have encountered with any Bordeaux. That wine ran neck and neck with this GPL over two nights, and though different (fresher, more lifted, and drop-dead sexy), and my preference, they are of the same quality. Wow!
Also, it was fascinating to experience the same terroir and style alongside the 2014 GPL. That vintage will probably always be oakier than this one, but lumber can only partially mask any high quality Pauillac wine.
The wine was in slumber upon opening, but the open-knit house style woke it fairly early and it began showing spectacularly after just a few hours of air. This dense, strapping powerhouse should evolve for another fifteen to twenty years and last through 2045+. A tremendous tribute to the vintage, appellation, and chateau. 95-96.14 people found this helpful 14,241 views
4 Comments
-
racerchris commented:
12/29/17, 3:36 PM - Your detailed notes on this wine and the '10 La Dame are greatly appreciated.
I splurged on a bottle of this today - to drink tomorrow night.
I'll buy as much of the LDM as I can and keep it in the cellar for a while. -
Motz commented:
12/29/17, 3:42 PM - I appreciate the kind words. Both are great wines.
-
PEKB commented:
5/15/20, 6:36 AM - Dear Motz, have you had the GPL’10 since 2017? What are your impressions? Would be great to hear your view on Pontet Canet 08 aswell. Thanks for great notes. Best regards from Marstrand, Sweden
-
Motz commented:
5/15/20, 7:22 AM - Hello PEKB,
I have not tasted the 2010 GPL since this note. The main reason why is heavy oak treatment, which will likely need another few years to integrate. IMO, many LB Bordeaux houses over oak their wines, and even more RB houses do. This aside, the fruit quality, sense of place, and structure to this wine stand out, and for these reasons, the oak should integrate. I await that time.