Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste 2012

The 2012 vintage in Pauillac

Vintage benchmark: 85/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A late cycle closing with rain gave an uneven vintage: the cabernets hold up, the merlots remain taut.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pauillac. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Blend of the 2012 vintage

Figures from the 2012 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 38 yrsVine age
• 180,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Les méthodes de cuvaison sont classiques, contrôlées avec une extrême rigueur, dans un chai de vinification équipé des dernières technologies. La période de cuvaison dure environ trois semaines. Le raisin fermente d'abord pendant huit à dix jours. Grand-Puy-Lacoste privilégie les extractions douces, avec des températures de 28°C. La macération se poursuit dix jours environ pour achever cette extraction.

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Ageing

16 à 18 mois en barriques de chêne (1/3 en barriques d’1 an, 2/3 en barriques neuves)

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Terroir

Grand-Puy-Lacoste enjoys an exceptional terroir. The soil is made up of gravels, that is to say alluvial stones that provide excellent drainage. The distinctive character of the Médoc soil is part of a history going back two million years, for the gravels are geological witnesses of the Quaternary era. These stones, brought down from the Pyrenees and carried by the Garonne, were deposited over time on the banks of the Gironde, its estuary. Today the layers, of varying depth, are made up of gravel mixed with sand and a little clay. This gravelly soil has the advantage of retaining heat and returning it to the vine at night, which eliminates excessive temperature swings and encourages the harmonious ripening of the bunches.