Chateau Gruaud-Larose - St.-Julien 2020 (1.5L)

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32 hectoliters per hectare, the 2020 Château Gruaud Larose is 79% Cabernet, 14% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc.

Chateau Gruaud-Larose Description

Chevalier de Gruard and Chevalier de La Rose owned this 70 hectare estate in Saint-Julien in the mid 18th century. Their two names were first associated on a label in 1781. Due to inheritance problems, the estate was divided in two until 1935, when Désiré Cordier, who had already bought a part in the early 1900s, restored the domain to its original size.

Since the 1980s, Gruard Larose has been held by groups of institutional investors before coming into the hands of the Merlant family in 1997. The vines are in a single block on a rise consisting of deep red gravel. Georges Pauli and his team have been responsible for winegrowing since 1970. Due to their expert care, Gruard Larose's soil is able to express its full potential. The wine is more than ever worthy of its Second Growth status in the 1855 classification.

Decanter: 98 Points

Detailed and delicate, this has a seductive charm to it, slowly displaying scented blueberries and raspberries, before layers of salty minerality, liquorice, and cooling blue fruits come into play as well as tobacco and liquorice adding a savoury touch. It’s not immediately upfront - more calm and collected, slowly growing in stature and presence. Tannins are fine but mouthcoating, giving the structure, this isn't a light wine, but it's supremely elegant and excellently textured. Impressive complexity and drama here, still very serious but it's sublime too. A luminous wine I'd love to own.--Georgina Hindle, Decanter.

Jeb Dunnuck: 96 Points

Coming from the talented Virginie Salette (the head winemaker since 2017) and tiny yields of 32 hectoliters per hectare, the 2020 Château Gruaud Larose is 79% Cabernet, 14% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, which continues the trend at this estate toward more and more Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Beautifully done, with a terrific sense of finesse, it offers a great nose of both red and black fruit as well as leafy tobacco, spring flowers, licorice, and spicy oak. Pure, medium to full-bodied, and wonderfully balanced, with fine tannins, it shows the focused, inward, almost understated style of the vintage without any rusticity or austerity. It needs a solid 7-8 years of bottle age, if not a decade, and is going to be very long-lived. Bravo. - Jeb Dunnuck

Wine Advocate: 96 Points

A serious, more obviously structured effort than the suave 2019, the 2020 Gruaud Larose opens in the glass with aromas of blackcurrants and blackberries mingled with subtle hints of burning embers, pencil shavings and violets framed by a deft touch of classy new oak. Medium to full-bodied, deep and concentrated, with rich, powdery tannins and vibrant fruit flavors, it concludes with an impressively penetrating finish. However, it appears likely to require patience. - William Kelley, Wine Advocate

The Wine Independent: 96 Points

The opaque purple-black colored 2020 Gruaud Larose comes bounding out of the glass with exuberant notes of crushed black cherries, juicy blackberries, and fresh black currants, followed by hints of sassafras, dark chocolate, and violets. Medium-bodied, the palate is very tightly coiled at this nascent stage, featuring firm, ripe, grainy tannins, and beautiful freshness to support the bright black berry and floral layers, finishing long and fragrant. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown, Wine Independent