Château Gruaud Larose 2003

2003 Château Gruaud Larose – France, Bordeaux, Médoc, St. Julien (4/30/2006)
Opened 19:30. First glass 20 hrs. Agreable nose with vanilla, black fruit and its syrup, black coffee, herbs and some alcohol. Fairly biting tannins on the palate, but also black fruits, herbs, a small lactic touch, spices … The tannins are dominating however. Some burning alcohol in the fairly long aftertaste. I’ll put it away until tomorrow.
Next day (evening): The nose has closed down; there’s a noticeable green element to it (paprika?). The palate remains tannic, with a lactic element and not much fruit shining through. The alcohol has subsided somewhat. I’m even less impressed then yesterday. I’ll put the rest away until tomorrow.
Third day (evening): Not much movement in positive sense; the acidity is now more pronounced. We’ll see tomoorw.
Fourth day (evening): Phew, did DID need its time. The nose has finally opened up a bit, with nice black and red fruit, fruit syrup, graffite, coffee, herbs… Very classical nose. The palate is still a bit weedy, but the fruit is now shining through more; still fairly tanninc and acidic though. Still difficult to drink, but hopefully this will integrate and balance out if given A LOT of bottle ageing. For now the nose is much more promising than the palate.
Sixth day (evening): I left about a big glass in the bottle and put it away for two days in the fridge, just closed with a cork. Amazing… now we are talking. The wine has blossomed into a balanced, structured, fruity, classy Bordeaux, without a trace of oxidation (and this after six days). While this was a 89 point wine on day one to five, this now clearly merits at least 93 if not more. But… it’ll need a lot of bottle ageing, or extended decanting (several hours). (93 pts.)

Nogal wat van de betere Bordeaux-wijnen uit 2003 bevatten krachtige tannines en hoge alcoholniveaus die het proeven ervan nu zeer moeilijk maakt. Deze Gruaud Larose had vlak na opening een mooie neus, maar een zeer gesloten mond, waarin de tannines en de alcohol volledig domineerden. Het duurde uiteindelijk zes dagen voor deze wijn openbloeide tot een gestructureerde, fruitige, klassieke Bordeaux, zonder enig spoor van oxidatie! Deze wijn zal dus lang in de fles moeten rusten om zich volledig te geven, of zeer lang op voorhand worden gedecanteerd. Wellicht pas op top na 2015. Het aanwezige fruit en materiaal zou de stevige tannines moeten overleven, maar zeker is dat natuurlijk nooit.

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