The Château Grand Puy Lacoste 2005 has a brilliant, classic pencil-lead nose that is Pauillac through and through. There is no messin’ about here. The palate is very well defined with wonderful acidity, great depth of black fruit with an astonishingly precise finish that just takes your breath away. Is it the best 2005 of the vintage? Not quite, but it belongs in the top tier. And factor in value for money, I would be happy sitting on a big pile of this in my cellar to drink over the rest of my lifetime and the afterlife if that exists too.

Was I being mean when I garlanded Xavier Borie’s Pauillac with a paltry 97-points? This is an exceptional Pauillac: strict and correct on the nose with graphite, cedar and crushed stone, masculine and stoic but with the clarity of a First Growth. The palate has a beguiling sense of symmetry, lazer-like precision with touches of pencil-lead on the profound finish. I rest my case and given the price, unbeatable value. Tasted November 2011.

This estate's finest wine of the decade is the 2005 Grand-Puy-Lacoste, a fleshy, sumptuous wine evocative of cassis, sweet red berries and cigar box, framed by a touch of creamy new oak that integrates with opening. Medium to full-bodied, deep and layered, with an enveloping core of fruit, rich tannins and a seamless but authoritative profile, it concludes with a long, resonant finish. Just entering early maturity, it will continue to develop for several decades. 96ptsWK Dec 2023
Pure crème de cassis, licorice and spice are all present in this wine from Xavier Borie. Medium to full-bodied and ripe, with sweet tannin and a nicely textured mouthfeel, this is a beauty that should continue to drink well for another 15 or so years. 92pts RP

Medium red. Very ripe aromas of plum and musky brown spices; redder in character and less precise than the 2006. Then big, sweet and plump on the palate, with full, mellow flavors of red berries, tobacco and mocha, plus a light smoked meat note. Finishes with sweet tannins and lingering, fully ripe fruit. This is showing its lush side today and is hiding its underlying structure.

Dark, brick-rimmed red; fine, oak tinged, cedary nose, stylish early bouquet; very nicely balanced, rich middleweight Pauillac, fresh in acidity, firm but fine in tannin; crisp and savoury ripe red fruit flavour, spicy, long, gently muscular and with fine aromatic length; distinctive and classy, attractive already, even better with a few years more. Very fair value. 2018-30+