2018 Château Gruaud Larose
Community Tasting Note
englishman's claret wrote:
Tuesday, July 4, 2023 - While you wouldn't mistake the 2018 Gruaud Larose for anything but a big, warm vintage, it also avoids the excesses common to a vintage with those climatic (and climactic) conditions. The aromatic profile here is a near-identical expression compared with a bottle tasted at the chateau in May 2023, with a big, ripe, slightly roasted nose of blackberry, plum, toast, bay leaf, and a little umami with black olive tapenade. The nose really bursts from the glass but there’s also an appealing, subtle potpourri note that's there if you look for it (happily, this grows more conspicuous with time). There's still some integrating oak imparting some coffee notes, but that's almost resolved. This is velvety, big, and enveloping in the mouth with just a hint of the 14.2% alcohol it actually possesses.
The heat of the vintage has imparted a jovial and broad-shouldered style at Gruaud Larose. It stays just on the right side of ripeness and the extraction has been quite gently handled, with tannins that are already velvety. This needs a little more time for the oak to integrate, but it's almost ready to drink. This shows well right out of the bottle, improves at hour 12, and flags by hour 24.
The assemblage here is 67% CS, 24% M, 9% CF, biodynamically farmed. Fermented (with co-inoculation) in 50% wood / 50% cement at 24-26 C. Elevage in 80% new oak.
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