Chateau Gruaud-Larose, Saint-Julien, France 2020

Coming from the talented Virginie Salette (the head winemaker since 2017) and tiny yields of 32 hectoliters per hectare, the 2020 Chateau Gruaud Larose is 79% Cabernet, 14% Merlot, and the rest Cabernet Franc, which continues the trend at this estate toward more and more Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend. Beautifully done, with a terrific sense of finesse, it offers a great nose of both red and black fruit as well as leafy tobacco, spring flowers, licorice, and spicy oak. Pure, medium to full-bodied, and wonderfully balanced, with fine tannins, it shows the focused, inward, almost understated style of the vintage without any rusticity or austerity. It needs a solid 7-8 years of bottle age, if not a decade, and is going to be very long-lived. Bravo. Best After 2030

96 Pts Jeb Dunnuck