The 2012 Grand-Puy-Lacoste has an impressive cassis-tinged bouquet with fresh tobacco and graphite infused black fruit that are very well focused and neatly integrated with the oak. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, a keen thread of acidity, finely proportioned with a vibrant graphite-infused finish. One of the standout Left Bank wines of the vintage. Tasted twice at Bordeaux Index's Ten Year-On tasting and blind at the Southwold Ten-Year On tasting. September 2022

Well-built, with a charcoal frame that melds nicely with steeped currant, blackberry paste and dark plum fruit flavors. The long finish is riveted to a graphite underpinning. Remarkably dense, but without the austere twinge of the vintage. Best from 2018 through 2030. Tasted twice, with consistent notes. 11,665 cases made. — JM

This is very muscular with blackcurrant, blueberry and mineral character. Full and tight now but this shows a serious backbone of tannins and length. Try in 2018.

Richly dark purple, touches of reduction on the first nose with flint and gunsmoke, rose bud, rose petals, bilberries and blackberries. A brilliant wine that shows how well Grand Puy Lacoste performs in smaller vintages, and why lovers of this label feel happy to buy it year after year. Chewy tannins showing that it is very much approaching its drinking window but still has plenty of life ahead. This is powerful at nine years old, and will benefit from carafing. Harvest October 3 to 16, 75% new oak. First year with Christel Spinner as technical director and R&D manager. Tasted Sept 2021
Jane Anson - Inside Bordeaux

Always a favorite among consumers, Xavier Borie’s is a fifth-growth Pauillac that consistently performs at a much higher level. The 2012 Grand-Puy-Lacoste has the classic, tell-tale crème de cassis as well as some bluer fruits and floral notes. Medium-bodied, its ripe tannin, beautiful fruit and low acidity give it an up-front appeal. There’s no harm in drinking it now or cellaring it for another 12-15+ years. RP

Deep purple-ruby. Highly aromatic nose offers scents of smoky blackberry, red cherry, violet, cocoa and spicy oak. Juicy, spicy and rather deep for the vintage, with nicely concentrated sour cherry and bright blackcurrant lifted by a floral element. A peppery twist complicates the rising, almost creamy finish, which shows a restrained sweetness and sneaky concentration. One of the top two dozen wines of the vintage. Ian D'Agata

[76CS/24M] Closed but very minerally nose; supple, fresh, medium full, and very gently, finely firmly tannic wine; ripe, fleshy, subtly complex, long and juicy with both a ripe fruit and a marked minerality, long and easy and gently gratifying to taste, and with very nice length. Enormous charm, yes, but more than that. 2019-30 [M.Schuster, Bordeaux Mar/Apr 2013]

Pleasant, plummy nose with a hint of coconut. Quite an expansive palate with firm and pretty large tannins but a good weight of fruit – ripe cherry and plum – and well judged alcohol. I think this one needs time but feels a very solid GPL. As Mr Parker might say: a sleeper of the vintage?

Tasted blind. Sweetness and concentration. This wine gives a decidedly glossy impression with everything in the right place. Very winning. Though there is a slight charred note on the inky finish. But there’s a heck of a lot going on here.
JR - March 2022