Grand Puy Lacoste 1982 (6.0L)

97 VM / 96 RP / 96 WCI / 18.5 JR

The 1982 Grand-Puy-Lacoste put in a magnificent performance where it looks the First Growths in the eye and challenges their supposed superiority. This is unquestionably the best of a two-dozen-plus bottle enjoyed over the years. It is brilliantly focused and intense on the nose with black fruit, cedar and graphite - quintessentially Pauillac, undimmed by the last four decades. The palate is stunning, pure with unerring symmetry, the once obdurate tannins now polymerizing and rendering a more harmonious, less brutal finish. Magnum format no doubt helped its cause, yet this is just a fantastic GPL. Tasted at the 1982 Dinner at Hatched.-Neal Martin, Vinous Media

This is a tour de force, and one of the all-time great Grand-Puy-Lacostes ever produced, as I hope the 2000 and 2005 will become. This is an inky/purple, beefy, broad, super-rich Pauillac revealing classic creme de cassis notes intermixed with hints of spring flowers and crushed rocks. Full-bodied with sweet tannin, shocking concentration, and layers of fruit, this irresistible 1982 is still an adolescent in terms of its evolution.-Robert Parker, The Wine Advocate

Consistently showing well, this is a beauty with its tobacco, lead pencil, cedar, smoke, earth, cassis and leather profile. Full bodied, and initially strict, this concentrated wine took about an hour in the decanter to fill out, soften and show its best.-Jeff Leve, Wine Cellar Insider, tasted 6/17

Rich, fully evolved fruit. But with a minerally finish too. Round and gorgeous. Complex. I wish I hadn't long ago drunk ago all 12 bottles of the case I bought en primeur. This is a 1982 over-performer.-Jancis Robinson