1986 Gruaud Larose

The 1986 Gruaud Larose is a vintage that has cropped up several times at various dinners, and after the splendid 1982, it vied with the 1989 as the best of the decade. A magnificent-looking imperial is poured at Zoldering in Amsterdam. This indicates that a proportion of the fruit has faded in recent years, rendering the aromatics a bit distant and standoffish, in direct contrast to the 1982 that doesn't disguise its desire to give sensory pleasure. The palate is medium-bodied with firm tannins that are typical of this vintage. A little austere at first, it requires time to open in the glass, black fruit conveying a Graves-like personality, warm gravel/terracotta notes infusing the slightly faded black fruit, perhaps just a little Brettanomyces towards the finish. Maybe a bit unyielding for some Bordeaux lovers, it is a vintage I would broach in the near future. Gentleman's claret? Tasted in January 2024.

Still remarkably youthful, my most recent bottle of the 1986 Gruaud Larose exhibited an impressively opaque hue, followed by aromas of blackcurrants, cigar ash, loamy soil, pencil shavings and subtle hints of smoked meats. Full-bodied, deep and concentrated, it's a rich but tightly wound wine, with a deep core of fruit, lively acids and an abundance of powdery structuring tannin. Incredible as it may seem, it's comparatively advanced bottles of this 1986 that are drinking best today, as pristinely stored examples with perfect corks are still almost painfully youthful.

Salty zesty nose with great liveliness. Sweeter than the 1986 Las Cases served blind alongside it but less dense. A very pretty wine. This has always been one of the most charming 1986s and it's still, just about, in fine fettle. Though I wouldn't keep it any longer. (JR)