“This is a high score for Gruaud Larose, and reflects the heights that this vintage is reaching right now.” – Inside Bordeaux

Points aside, the elegance, the grace, the seductiveness. What a Gruaud Larose can offer the Bordeaux connoisseur is UNREAL beauty, even in classified growth standards.

Let’s put it this way, very, VERY few empty bottles make it to Agent Noir’s unforgettable wines shelf in his kitchen, this is now up there. It drank like silk upon popping the cork, and over the next few days, it kept getting better and better, until every sip was savored.

Classified as a 2nd Growth in 1855, the history of this gloriously understated Château goes back to 1725. Antonio Galloni’s Vinous could not be more truthful, confessing that “At its best, Gruaud Larose embodies all that is great about Bordeaux, and Saint-Julien in particular; its wines strike a magical balance between power and finesse and age splendidly…

If the one review is not gonna make you feel all warm and fuzzy about stealing this library gem, there’s also a Jancis Robinson impression at 18.5/20 calling it “Dense, quite dramatic. Supple palate entry and real savour, then lots of glossy fruit on top of extremely fine tannins. This should be lovely…” which is from when it was at the tender age of 5. The Jane Anson review below is from when it turned 20.

And it could not be more accurate, this sleeper of an overlooked vintage under the shadow of 2000 can be had today at this price because of those facts. The 2000 Gruaud Larose, not necessarily a better wine if you ask Noir, can easily cost you triple this.

Still somebody out there has this going for $250 a bottle, and dare we say, even THAT is worth it. Did we say the best price anywhere? Less than 10 cases were all we could secure, sadly.

98 Points – Inside Bordeaux “There is a subtlety to this that strikes you immediately - gentle smoke, cold ash, tobacco, white truffle, brambled blackberry fruits, mint leaf, totally sublime, my favourite of the line up so far. It plays to the strengths of St Julien, and plays with nuanced light-and-shade in a way that the 2000 does not at this point. This is a high score for Gruaud Larose, and reflects the heights that this vintage is reaching right now - tracking how long it stays at this level is part of the beauty of wine”