Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste - Pauillac 2016

Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste is located on a hillock of gravel in Pauillac. The first owner of the estate can be traced back to the 16th century, M. Guiraud, a member of the Bordeaux Parliament. Over the generations the estate was passed along female lines of inheritance, often as a dowry, which accounts for the many different names of the Château. In 1844 Pierre-Frédéric Lacoste took over the Château, giving it its present name. He greatly increased the quality and reputation of its wines, culminating in its ranking as a Cinquième Cru, or 5th Growth, in the 1855 Bordeaux Classification. Today the estate is still family-owned, and, uniquely for Châteaux in the Médoc, the dimensions of the estate and its vineyards haven't changed since 1855.

The Château sits on a small hill 20 meters above sea level on deep gravel soils. The estate consists of 90 hectares, 58 of which are planted to a mix of 75% Cabernet Sauvignon, 20% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc vines. The vineyards are worked with minimal chemical treatments and no insecticides. All grapes are hand-harvested by the same pickers that the Château employs year after year. The grapes are fermented in 48 different temperature controlled steel tanks with daily pump-overs. The wine is aged in 2/3 new Allier oak barrels for 16-18 months.