Chateau Gruaud-Larose Saint Julien 2020
(Bordeaux, France) - [DM 98] [JS 96] [WA 96] [JD 96] [WS 95, #25 Top 100 of 2023] [VM 95]

 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. (Drink between 2028-2052)

96 Points - Robert Parker's Wine Advocate:

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.

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. Drink 2025-2045.

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.