Château Gruaud Larose 2025

Such scented notes on the nose, more like a sultry summer’s evening with jasmine, lavender, violets, peonies and deep, heady blackcurrants alongside tobacco, liquorice and clove. Supple and so wonderfully textured – grippy but finely placed with an almost crushed stone aspect but this really holds the juiciness such a long time – strawberry and raspberry, crunchy cranberry, with a persistence and energetic finish. What a wine. Silky, almost a delicate touch here where there’s such precision yet still at the same time there’s concentration and intensity. 11% press wine (all from Cabernet). 3.71pH. A yield of 26hl/ha. 50% grand vin production.

You get the tannic grip of the vintage in spades, but as you sit with the wine, a creaminess appears through the mid palate that is highly appealing, with a cocoa bean and espresso lick alongside berry fruits, crayon and graphite. Smoky signoff on the finish right now, will integrate over ageing, a ton of potential here, great quality. 75% new oak. Virginie Sallette 8th vintage, a lovely expression of Gruaud. Harvest September 3 to 20. 3.71 pH

What finesse and depth in this bouquet, where detail takes center stage! Notes of graphite and mint set a host of markers of precision. Juicy and slightly creamy on the attack, the wine shows elegant tannins that bring structure, power, and freshness. These fine-grained tannins have real definition! They provide solid support and enhance aromatic expression and length, while the acidic framework champions freshness and ageing potential.

Deep black color. An intense, refined nose with lovely black-fruit aromas. A creamy touch. Delicate on the attack, especially aromatic through the mid-palate and velvety, the wine glides flawlessly across the palate through to the finish. It ends long, deep and complex in flavor. Blend: 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, 2% Cabernet Franc. Alcohol content: 13.41°, which is rarely this high for this growth. Yield: 26 hl/ha.

For its 300th anniversary, the vintage could not have been better: deep, noble, restrained, complex; black fruit, pepper, blueberries, with the oak discreetly in the background; on the palate, powerful, muscular, with crisp fruit, plenty of tannin of the highest quality—always present, never overwhelming; the wine shows structure, density and concentration while remaining very elegant—an iron fist in a velvet glove, wild yet focused; the finish is very long, red-fruited and fresh. It can, it must, it will age. True class.