Cabernet Sauvignon 57%, Merlot 30%, Petit Verdot 4%, Cabernet Franc 7% and Malbec 2%
Château Gruaud Larose is a wine estate in the Saint-Julien appellation of the Médoc, ranked as a second growth in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification. The vineyard is situated southwest of the village of Beychevelle, on gravel banks sloping towards le Marais de Beychevelle, a marsh that separates Saint-Julien from the vineyards of the central Médoc. A tower built on the property offers a panoramic view of the region.
The soil is a mix of gravel, pebbles, sand, clay and humus over a subsoil of different clays, sand and pebbles. A total of 82 hectares (203 acres) are planted – 60 percent of vines are Cabernet Sauvignon, with 30 percent Merlot, seven percent Cabernet Franc and three percent Petit Verdot. The proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon has risen in recent decades and there are plans to increase this to around 70 percent over coming years. In the winery, grapes are fermented in large wooden vats before aging in barrel for 18 months.
TASTING NOTES
The 1989 Gruaud Larose is evolving very slowly, and its impressively youthful structure and vibrant flavors auger very well for its future. Offering up aromas of sweet berry fruit, cigar wrapper, loamy soil and cedar, it’s medium to full-bodied, with a rich core of fruit, lively acids and fine but still present tannins. As this develops in the cellar, it’s showing more plenitude and mid-palate volume than it did a decade ago, and for patient readers this is emerging as a comparatively underestimated 1989 Médoc. Drink 2020-2045.
ROBERT PARKER – 92POINTS
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