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The 1982 Grand-Puy-Lacoste put in a magnificent performance where it looks the First Growths in the eye and challenges their supposed superiority. This is unquestionably the best of a two-dozen-plus bottle enjoyed over the years. It is brilliantly focused and intense on the nose with black fruit, cedar and graphite - quintessentially Pauillac, undimmed by the last four decades. The palate is stunning, pure with unerring symmetry, the once obdurate tannins now polymerizing and rendering a more harmonious, less brutal finish. Magnum format no doubt helped its cause, yet this is just a fantastic GPL. Tasted at the 1982 Dinner at Hatched.Vinous Media | 97 VMThis is a tour de force, and one of the all-time great Grand-Puy-Lacostes ever produced, as I hope the 2000 and 2005 will become. This is an inky/purple, beefy, broad, super-rich Pauillac revealing classic creme de cassis notes intermixed with hints of spring flowers and crushed rocks. Full-bodied with sweet tannin, shocking concentration, and layers of fruit, this irresistible 1982 is still an adolescent in terms of its evolution. Anticipated maturity: now-2035. Release price: ($85.00/case)Robert Parker | 96 RPNot as impressive as it once was; nonetheless, a rich and caressing wine. Sweet berry flavor, with hints of tobacco and raisin. Medium- to full-bodied, with velvety tannins and a caressing finish.--1982 Bordeaux horizontal. Drink now.Wine Spectator | 92 WSThe 1982 Grand Puy Lacoste is a very good example of both the vintage and the property and is now drinking at its apogee- but, still with decades of life in it. The bouquet offers up a black fruity mélange of cassis, black cherries, tobacco leaf, a bit of bell pepper, dark soil tones and cigar smoke. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and complex, with a good core, still a bit of backend tannin and very good length and grip on the well-balanced finish. This is a very good bottle, but it is a tad rustic in personality vis à vis many of its contemporaries. A good honest wine, but not a great wine. (Drink between 2018-2050)John Gilman | 91 JG

Always somewhat atypical (which I suspect will be the case with the more modern day 2003), the 1982 Latour has been the most opulent, flamboyant, and precocious of the northern Medocs, especially the St.-Juliens, Pauillacs, and St.-Estephes. It hasn’t changed much over the last 10-15 years, revealing sweet tannins as well as extraordinarily decadent, even extravagant levels of fruit, glycerin, and body. It is an amazing wine, and on several occasions, I have actually picked it as a right bank Pomerol because of the lushness and succulence of the cedary, blackberry, black currant fruit. This vintage has always tasted great, even in its youth, and revealed a precociousness that one does not associate with this Chateau. However, the 1982 is still evolving at a glacial pace. The concentration remains remarkable, and the wine is a full-bodied, exuberant, rich, classic Pauillac in its aromatic and flavor profiles. It’s just juiced up (similar to an athlete on steroids) and is all the better for it. This remarkable effort will last as long as the 1982 Mouton, but it has always been more approachable and decadently fruity. Drink it now, in 20 years, and in 50 years! Don’t miss it if you are a wine lover.Robert Parker | 100 RPThe 1982 Latour is the most consistent of the First Growths in this auspicious vintage. Tasted from both bottle and magnum in the UK in recent months, this note comes from an ex-château magnum tasted at a private dinner in Bordeaux. It exudes class and majesty on the nose with its copious but brilliantly focused black fruit laced with cedar and graphite. To use a phrase I have written before, it is blue-blooded...regal. That comes through on a palate that has a haunting symmetry and a killer finish that is brilliantly defined and audaciously long, graphite lingering on the aftertaste. Quite simply, claret does not come better than this. Tasted at a private dinner in Bordeaux.Vinous Media | 100 VMThere are hints of brick orange around the outer edges, but this is still beautifully rich red at the core, and the warmth of the vintage’s sunshine is clear from the first moment. At 34 years of age, the aromatics have almost torrefied, with beautiful burnt caramel notes oozing into rich plum and baked strawberry fruits. Gentle tannins are still holding the fruit unobtrusively but firmly in line. As the wine opens in the glass, the tobacco and cold woodsmoke become more evident, and each time you go back to the glass it gets more and more interesting, extending the conversation and keeping it new. Bursting with life.Decanter | 100 DEChe 1982 Chateau Latour is another powerful 1982 that’s drinking beautifully today and has a big, sweet nose of blackcurrants, saddle leather, cedar, and Asian spices that just comes jumping out of the glass. Deep, concentrated, and powerful, it takes 30 minutes in the glass to open up on the palate and still has ripe, polished tannins, thrilling length, and an impeccably balanced, layered personality. Again, it’s drinking fabulous well today, yet I suspect, given the wealth of fruit, it has another 2-3 decades of prime drinking ahead and will have a gradual decline.Jeb Dunnuck | 99 JDBig and chewy. Full-bodied, with velvety tannins and a long, long currant, berry and cherry character. Underrated. Still more to come in this wine.--Bordeaux retrospective. Drink now.Wine Spectator | 98 WSThis shows wonderful decadence with meaty, dark chocolate and ripe plums on the nose that follows through on the palate. It’s full bodied, with super silky tannins that caress your palate. The fruit in the wine changes to a spicy, stony undertone. It seems to evolve all the time in the glass. This has a long life to it. But why wait? So delicious.James Suckling | 98 JS(Chateau Latour) The 1982 Latour is a brilliant example of the vintage, which continues to show potential for long-term evolution, but is starting to drink with plenty of generosity at age thirty-two. The bouquet shows a bit of the veneer of the ripe and generous spirit of 1982, coupled to classic Latour power and depth, as it offers up scents of sweet cassis, black cherries, the first signs of black truffles, cigar smoke, dark, gravelly soil tones, almost a touch of meatiness and a nice framing of cedar. On the palate the wine is deep, full-bodied and sappy at the core, with ripe, suave tannins, excellent focus and grip and a very, very long, complex and gorgeous finish. This is not as classically Latour-like as a vintage such as 1970 or 1966, as the ripe style of 1982 is certainly prominently displayed here, but this is a great Latour by any measure. (Drink between 2014-2100).John Gilman | 96 JG