"...2025 Château Gruaud Larose...a heavenly Saint-Julien that brings the richness of the vintage alongside an unmistakable sense of class. Bravo! 97-99 points." Jeb Dunnuck, Apr '26
"...2025 Lafon-Rochet is classy and polished, as it so often is. Readers will find a Saint-Estèphe of nuance, delineation and understated class....94-96 points" Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com
Released for sale en primeur this morning, the 300th vintage of Château Gruaud Larose receives an outstanding score of 97-99 points from Jeb Dunnuck. Despite the scores, the release price is just £258 per six bottles in bond, the same as the opening price for the 2024, and down from the opening price of £358 per six for the 2023.
Gruaud Larose celebrates its 300th year with a special engraved gold label. Jeb Dunnuck the wine in ethereal terms ("heavenly"!), but the other critics are also full of praise, with Neal Martin resorting to an old-fashioned epithet for more elegant, structured red bordeaux, calling it "Englishman's Claret!".
It's worth reminding ourselves that, like the Léovilles (Barton, Poyferré and Las Cases), Gruaud Larose is a St.-Julien Deuxième Grand Cru Classé, making this price all the more impressive.
Also released this morning is Château Lafon-Rochet, with 94-96 points and at £138 per six, another great value wine. Lafon-Rochet has been a great source of classy, understated St-Estephe for at least the last two decades. Following the recent sale of the estate by the Tesseron family to Jackie Lorenzetti, a new Managing Director, Christophe Congé, was appointed. Congé was formerly the oenologist for Château Lafite Rothschild for 22 years, and we think the focus on restraint and elegance at that great estate sits well with Lafon Rochet's DNA, with critics describing the 2025 using terms like 'austere' and 'classical'. Another great value wine.
Offered en primeur, on allocation. Landing spring 2028.
Magnums available with £25 ex-VAT bottling surcharge per six. Please enquire for other formats.
All previous offers of 2025 Bordeaux can be found here.
Producer Profile
Château Gruaud Larose
Château Gruaud Larose is a Deuxième Grand Cru Classé in St.-Julien. The estate is first mentioned in the early 1700s as being owned by a knight, the interestingly named Joseph Stanislas Gruaud. Later in that same century, it was owned by a Joseph-Sébastian de La Rose, also adding his name.
In the19th century the estate fell into debt and was split into two halves; Gruaud-Larose-Faure and Gruaud-Larose-Sarget (owned by Baron Sarget, who built the château). In 1917 Gruaud-Larose-Faure was purchased by the Cordier family and the whole estate reunited by them by the 1930s. They sold the estate in 1983 and a series of owners followed (in part accounting for some of the inconsistency in vintages of this wine) until it was bought in 1997 by the Taillan group of companies (which includes Bordeaux merchants Ginestet, a Loire wine business and various other wine holdings).
The vineyards consist of 84 hectares on a gravel-rich plateau to the west of Beychevelle, planted to 57% Cabernet Sauvignon, 30% Merlot, 8% Cabernet Franc, 3% Petit Verdot and 2% Malbec. The second wine is Sarget de Gruaud Larose.
| RED | 2025 | Château Gruaud Larose | 75cl | £258 per case of 6 | Château Gruaud Larose 2025 / / 75cl £258 per case of 6 |
IB | |||||
Tasting Notes"The 2025 Gruaud Larose comes in a specially designed etched bottle to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the first vintage labelled as Gruaud Larose (although there were already vines in situ). Picked between September 3 and 20 at 26 hl/ha, average for the appellation, and aged in new oak, it has a less outgoing bouquet than its peers, tightly wound black fruit, sous-bois and tobacco. Fine delineation and firmly classical in style. The palate is medium-bodied with slightly chalky tannins. A more tertiary Gruaud Larose, hints of dark powdered chocolate combine with black fruit, leading to a more structured vintage that lingers nicely in the mouth. Perhaps slightly less deep than some of its peers, this has a tendency to gain weight during élevage. Englishman's claret! 2032 - 2060. 93-95 points" Neal Martin, Vinous.com------"You get the tannic grip of the vintage in spades, but as you sit with the wine, a creaminess appears through the mid palate that is highly appealing, with a cocoa bean and espresso lick alongside berry fruits, crayon and graphite. Smoky signoff on the finish right now, will integrate over ageing, a ton of potential here, great quality. 75% new oak. Virginie Sallette 8th vintage, a lovely expression of Gruaud. Harvest September 3 to 20. 3.71 pH. 2032-2050. 95 points" janeanson.com------"The 2025 Gruaud Larose is rich, ample and exotic right out of the gate. Dark-toned fruit, graphite, licorice, mocha and lavender are all dialed up. The 2025 has a lot to offer, but will need a number of years to be at its finest. There's a lot of wine here. Even with all its intensity, the tannins show no signs of stress. All the 2025 needs is a lot of time in the cellar to shed its considerable baby fat. 2040-2075. 95-97 points" Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com------"Crème de cassis and black raspberry fruits intermixed with spring flowers, graphite, tobacco leaf, and spicy wood all emerge from the 2025 Château Gruaud Larose, a deep purple-hued Saint-Julien based on 77% Cabernet Sauvignon, 21% Merlot, and 2% Cabernet Franc that's resting in 80% new French oak. This beauty stopped me in my tracks with its sheer class and purity. Full-bodied on the palate, it has a layered, graceful mouthfeel, gorgeous tannins, and a great finish, all grounded by a remarkable sense of balance and elegance. It checks in at 13.47% alcohol with a pH of 3.71. This is a heavenly Saint-Julien that brings the richness of the vintage alongside an unmistakable sense of class. Bravo! 97-99 points" Jebdunnuck.com |
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