GRUAUD LAROSE 1982

One of the best wines ever made at this estate. Dense ruby color with a slight amber edge. Intense grape, berry and raspberry aromas. Full-bodied, with loads of velvety tannins and a long, ripe fruit and mineral aftertaste. (JS)

Good deep red. Very complex, perfumed aromas of plum, leather, meat and minerals. Sweet, lush and young; really stuffed with fat, meaty fruit. Broad without being really thick, with impressive precision of fruit. The most complex of these three vintages of Gruaud-Larose. Finishes with big, ripe tannins and palate-staining sweet fruit. The young 2000 reminds me of this wine. (A second bottle of equal quality showed roasted currant, tobacco and leather on the nose; a broad, silky palate of compelling sweetness; and a sweetly fruity finish with big, firm tannins and excellent length.) Drink now through 2020.

One of the most powerful, massive wines of the vintage is the 1982 Gruaud Larose, a full-bodied, broad and concentrated effort redolent of ripe black fruits, loamy soil, smoked meats, leather, espresso roast and hints of cigar wrapper. Rich, layered and expansive, its deep core of ripe, fleshy fruit is framed by sweet, powdery tannins. As ever with the wines of the Cordier era, the fly in the ointment is that the wine's wild, somewhat animal profile is strongly marked by the presence of Brettanomyces, yet the 1982's intensely characterful, singular style means that I am personally able to overlook that defect. Still youthful, and actually evolving more slowly than the brilliant 1986, this is likely to number among the longer-lived wines of the vintage. 96 points William Kelley A massive wine that is clearly of first-growth quality in this vintage, the 1982 Gruaud Larose remains a youngster. A broodingly dense, thick, unctuously textured, inky/plum/garnet/purple color offers up scents of beef blood, steak tartare, cassis, herbs, tobacco, and underbrush. One of the most concentrated wines of the vintage (as well as one of the most concentrated Bordeaux’s I have ever tasted), it is a huge, full-bodied, weighty, rich wine whose tannins are getting silkier and silkier. It appears set for another 30-40 years of life. This behemoth is a singularly profound example of Gruaud Larose that continues to justify its legendary status. Anticipated maturity: now-2050. 98pts RP June 2009 Along with the 1961, one of the two greatest Gruaud-Laroses I have ever tasted. It needs decanting of a good one to two hours in advance not only for aeration purposes, but also to get it off of its very heavy sediment. The color remains a murky, opaque purple/garnet. The phenomenal nose smells like a Spanish tapas bar with notes of new saddle leather, licorice, tar, creme de cassis, olives, and grilled meats. Extremely full-bodied with a viscous tecxture, remarkable levels of glycerin, and fabulous concentration, the 1982 Gruaud-Larose is still an adolescent in terms of its development. The finish is filled with extract and tannin in a large, massively scaled style. I misidentified this wine as a first-growth when tasted blind ... it is that compelling. Anticipated maturity: 2004-2025. 98pts RP Nov 2002