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Wine Type
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Vintage
Name
Variety
Locale
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Date
Posted
Score
Helpful
Comments
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Red
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2011 Clarendelle Bordeaux
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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Thin, classic red fruit but hidden behind soft tannin and well judged acidity. Too much reductivity here and an obtrusive iron note overpowering the finish. It's dirty, thin and uninteresting, although drinkable. Not one to age much longer, drink before 2018. Not their best vintage, nor was it great in Bordeaux, but given the pedigree of the owners, this is a big disappointment for the price.
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Red
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2007 Château Haut-Brion
Pessac-Léognan
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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Even in a vintage like 2007, the stunning terroir of Haut Brion can shine through to make a spectacular wine. An aristocratic wine fashioned in an elegant style, the 2007 Haut Brion spews off candied cherry tarts, Creme de Cassis, iron ore, wet tobacco, eucalyptus, fresh flowers and crushed rocks. This is never going to be a showstopper, but is more an exercise in restraint and terroir. Very fresh on the palate, this will no doubt be a very classic claret (one that is much more introspective/cerebral than for hedonistic pleasure) for drinking from 2017 over the coming 2 decades.
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Red
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2010 Perfect Season Cabernet Sauvignon Bidwell Creek Estate and Vineyard
Knights Valley
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Somewhat atypical for the 2010 vintage, Philipe Melka produced a very forawrd lush styled Cabernet that is already completely integrated. While the deep dark blueberry and cassis are very fresh and hedonistic, they would suggest a low acid based on their profile - Do not let that fool you; this wine has the requisite acidity to exhibit freshness for the coming 10 years. There is much brooding underneath, with mint, damsum plum and dark chocolate brimming underneath. This also shows great length but it falls just a bit flat on the mid-palate. A perplexing wine with tons of personality, it is quite exotic and will be interesting to follow it until 2025.
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Red
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2005 Domaine de Chevalier
Pessac-Léognan
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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An outstanding effort by Olivier Bernard and the team at Domaine de Chevalier. This wine clearly has a large merlot componant and is very lush and silky. Somewhat of a smudged fruitcake componant obfuscates the kirsch liquer on the entry. Lower in acid than some of its peers, it still seems to be evolving at a somewhat glacial pace. Give it another year or so in the bottle to re-emerge with a more multidimensional profile to this tightly wound, blue fruited, midweight, tobacco tinged, smoky road tarred stunner. It is almost there, and can undoubtably add an additional point or two in the coming couple years and for the next two decades.
PS - this is for the new generation of Bordeaux drinkers who prefer the lower acidity and more ripeness. Maybe this will turn out to be a little more classical in the future, but it will give delicious drinking for those who love primary and secondary fruits from 2016 to 2023, and will be exotic for the remainder of the listed drinking window.
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Red
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2010 Ixsir El
Lebanon
Red Blend more
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The 2010 'El' Ixsir is reminiscent of a Syrah dominated 19th century 'L'Ermitage' remake (a la Palmer or La Lagune) with more depth, balance, purity and cohesion. Thrilling out of the gate, this elixir spews out loads of blackberry liquer, raspberry, white pepper, dark chocolate and smoked meats in a rich, luscious texture that in no way comes across as heavy. While this cuvee has only been around for a few years I have no doubt that this will be even better at age 20 than today. This effort will no doubt turn heads and make consumers rethink the category of Lebanese wine. Kudos to Ixsir and consulting oenologist Hubert de Bouard!
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Red
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2010 Repris Cabernet Sauvignon
Sonoma County
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The 2010 Repris Sonoma Cab exhibits copious amounts of dusty blueberry, very pure blackberry and crystalline cassis followed by a streak of minerality that provides tension and a very defined mid palate - no doubt a blessing derived from this cooler vintage. The new oak gives a hint of vanillin and cocoa powder with an exotic cinnamon variant that finishes with an element of physical cohesion similar to that of a ball of mercury attracting/clinging to itself. This texture is very eerily reminiscent to the 2003 Pichon Lalande and would probably be a dead ringer for it if tasted in 2006. There is most likely a touch of Merlot in the final blend, as is allowed in the AVA - and this is all for the better.
Its stunning, sleek and polished; you will be very surprised to find that it actually contains 14.8% alcohol - you can't tell. It has a hedonistic appeal so those who wish to open now to enjoy the primary fat should have no regrets doing so; however, those who wish to cellar for a decade or more should be rewarded with an exotic complexity for their patience.
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Red
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2003 Château Troplong Mondot
St. Émilion Grand Cru
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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Secondary aromatics spew from the glass of truffle, eucolyptis, mentholly mint, leather, tobacco, wet creekbed, ink, pencil lead, baked blueberry, baked cherry, honey-dipped-cassis and a tad of kirsch liquor culminating in a glorious display of new world/high-alcohol/in your face awesomeness. Not for the faint of heart, the 03 Troplong is made in a blockbuster, low acid style with amped alcohol..but it still somehow retains its freshness. The tannin is still not 100% fully integrated and dusty, and there is still a bit of oak behind the cedar on the nose and palate. But this is still a silky wine. The finish is long, glycerin tinged and very coating. Still, I would like to see a little more fresh 'pizaz' and less muddled flavors (they were a pain to differentiate until well into my buzz). Very well made, this hot vintaged wine from one of the superstars from Saint-Emilions best terroirs should hold up well for at least 10 more years. I hope to have some to check in on in 2023 to see if it has the stuffing to last 10 more. On a different note, I will never understand why well made, big 03 BDX will be so controversial. If you are a purist who says Bordeaux has to be super classical and Bordeauxy..well..fine..but I'm not an aristocrat who drinks with my pinky pointed to the sky when I slurp (I make sure to point it downwards for that)- just tell me this, if this was from California, would it not kick ass?? Best from 2016-2022 if I had to guess, but I'm hesitant creating a drinking window for 03, especially on the right bank..
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Red
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2007 Château de Beaucastel Châteauneuf-du-Pape
Red Rhone Blend more
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Readers should note that this blockbuster of a wine has a very big A-type personality which will lead consumers to love it or hate it. This take on what nature gave the property in 2007 is big, in your face, intense, loud and full bodied with tons of curves! If you like purist examples with minimalist winemaking practices, I would recommend shying away from this wine (and pitying your poor soul).
That said, this wine packs serious punch. Infinite amounts of Kirsche, blueberry, wild game, black licorice, rock salt and wet creekbed jump from the glass into your nose in jaw dropping concentration - quite literally filling the room. There is a bit of heat, but in such a ripe vintage to think the wine should be anything else should be considered snobbery. When it first enters your mouth, the focus achieved for the acidity is unbelievable - the delineation is remarkable (very oddly reminiscent of a 92 Leroy Vosne-Romanee). You really taste what you smell (plus a bit of wild cherry, white pepper and oak), the telltale sign of a remarkable young wine. This adolescent will require patience to achieve secondary (and could quite possibly feature dominantly tertiary olfactory) experiences. What strikes me is the burgundian delicacy and saline minerality that accompanies its power.
Given the vintage, many people will talk negatively about roasted aromatics and flavors. This is rubbish and a prime example of an opinion being wrong. The roasted charicteristics are much more a signal of the gaminess (no doubt from the high levels of Mouvedre) than a stewed characteristic of over-ripeness.
If you like to create infanticide by drinking young wines, please drink up as there is still a decent amount of baby-fat around the edges. The oak on this should dissipate (the tannin is already well-integrated) over the next 3 years or so and offer a profound experience from 2018-2030. Yes, the 2007 Beaucastel CDP should hold on for that long, if not longer for those who have the necessary patience to wait on what could one day be a legend at age 30...
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Red
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2009 Château Cantenac Brown BriO
Margaux
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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A very good second wine for a Chateau that has been improving quite well over the past decade or so. This claret swirls up some exotic asian tropical fruits along with muddled cassis and delineated wild black cherry infused blackberry liquor, cigar box, subtle white pepper, and very subtle fresh mint, white chocolate/vanillin and some floral notes (in descending order by intensity). Medium bodied on the palate it has a creamy, medium bodied mouthfeel that is more or less spot on with the aromatics, along with a great dose of acidity (more than a typical 09, but this wine screams 2009 bordeaux). The tannin is very well integrated (oak included).
Its not a blockbuster by any means, but a very solid and impressive wine that could be picked up under 40 retail. If you are a big Margaux fan, stock up and drink now until 2020+
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Red
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1992 Domaine Leroy Vosne-Romanée Les Genaivrières
Pinot Noir more
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My experience with mature Burgundy is limited, not out of a lack of attempts, just worse luck than Sweeney Todd with oxidization, tca and bad bottles even from the most pristine of cellars (even for the variation that normally occurs' standards..)
This could very well have been the absolute best bottle of wine that I have ever sipped. Not from a critical perspective, but because of the festive mood (me and the girlfriend's 2nd anniversary), the rocking juice, and the awesomely entertaining waiter that kept poking fun at me for bringing my own burgundy stemware. Upon removing the capsule, I almost had a heart attack seeing all of the wet black crud on the top of the cork, which was totally drenched (possibly due to being overnighted from a collector's cellar in CA to Texas a few weeks ago).. Hopes were not high. But the first test taste showed no damage or storage flaw of any kind.. so we let that baby sit in the bottle for an hour after a little taste each..and man did it get gnarly!
On the nose, it had a surprisingly intense Tertiary bouquet of fresh wild mushrooms which later turned to white truffles (and when we finished the bottle at home it was no mushroom, all truffle), mouthwateringly sweet wild cherry, cranberry, a delicate mix of cedar and sandalwood, asian spice, soy, tobacco, brown sugar and a mineral salinity that made you want another sip even more than salt tabs make you want to chug water! The depth of expression was also guided by such lazer-like (laser with an 's' just doesn't cut it here) acidity that delineated the flavors about as well as they could be in this vintage. If only the fruit was less muddled (and it wasn't that muddled) and it had a little bit more in the phenolic department it could've topped out 3-4 pts higher. And I am actually inclined to give this wine a higher score but I just think this bottle was too perfect to be the norm, even for Leroy.
This sits up there with 03 Pichon Lalande, 05 Pavie, 05 SQN Naked Truth, 85 La Mission, 03 Angelus and 64 Vina Real Special Reserva La Crianza for that hedonistic factor of wow this is yummy.. but it had the nuance that the 03 BDX from that list just didn't have (and no stylistic comparison's are intended).
I will buy every bottle I can of this..IT IS SOOOOO GOOD!!!
Drink up, it is fully mature and probably won't get any better, but I don't see it dying out before 2017+
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Red
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2005 Château Pape Clément Clémentin de Pape Clément
Pessac-Léognan
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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Quite an evolved wine for such a young age. This 2005's bouquet boasts fantastically precise cassis notes supported by briary notes and tertiary underpinnings of mushrooms, sweet black licorice, sous bois, and the hallmark of graves - melted road tar. Delineated by bursts of fresh acidity, this second wine shows a knack for superb (yet unobtrusive) cellar tecnique, dazzling pedigree and stupendous terroir; and the medium-full bodied palate matches the bouquet like a mirror. Magrez hit the nail on the head with this entry which is unmistakably 2005 Graves.
Unctuous and still slightly structured (the tannic shape is almost like an odd mix of structure behind the velvet that is, in my best guess, 70% maturely integrated...but all 100% of them are so, so, so juicy and sweet!), the juice in my glass is not shy and is well into its drinking window, but, I suppose the plateau will be moderate but evolutionarily slow from this point on to roughly 2016+ if kept in a cool cellar. For those who do not mind highly evolved wines on the cusp of loosing freshness of fruit, this wine should hold on for 3-4 years thereafter. This vintage just goes from strength to strength.. Should be interesting to taste the 2005, 2008, 2009 and 2010 all side by side in a few years.. Now if I can just not drink them all..
For the sheer pleasure factor I would want to give this wine a 93-95, but the heat on the still long and delicious finish takes away from that a bit (even only at 13%), and so does the fact that while super delineated, the qualities in this wine overlap in a muddled way (taste this wine next to the grand vin and you'll know what I am talking about). Still, at this price, if you can still find any... I hope you have bought the entire inventory before even reading this far into my review (and if you still haven't, well then shame on you!).
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Red
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2008 Domaine Armelle et Bernard Rion Chambolle-Musigny Les Echezeaux Vieilles Vignes
Pinot Noir more
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An interesting wine; not to say this wine is very complex..just interesting. Straight-forward fruit profile for the vintage: Musty/dried cherries and cranberry. The nose has hints of flint over wet stone with a background pepper. Old cigar box then intermixes with cedar notes and game.
Quite bright, the nose and palate seem to be in full agreement, but with the level of acidity being quite high, this chambolle-musigny seems quite 'smudgy.'
Although it is still young, I do not know if the muscular tannin in this wine will fully integrate before it reaches its plateau of maturity - we will have to wait and see. If it does, the rating could climb up a few points.
I am also unsure that I particularly like the faint brownish hue, and given the whiff of tca that I get every now and then from almost every bottle I have tasted leads me to believe that this domaine could be plagued by a tca problem...
All 4 tasting notes are somewhat similar, with scores ranging from 86-90 over the past 3 months.
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Red
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2005 Château Pontet-Canet
Pauillac
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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It is almost appalling to read the lesser reviews of this iconic wine. There comes a point where subjectivity becomes just plain wrong...
This is a blockbuster powerhouse that will re-define your definition of tannin. The 05 Pontet is built to last the long haul for sure, and should easily turn out to be a 40+ year wine. Still young and inky, the wine possesses globs of rich fruit - creme de cassis, red currant, blackberry, blueberry and wild cherry - vibrant mineral notes, and everything else that screams Pauillac in a classic wine from a ripe vintage. The balance is impeccable, and the acidity keeps it fresh. All and all, this is a wine for your children..but please pop open a bottle or two before you pass it off to see what great, fresh young bordeaux is supposed to taste like.
Finding an argument in Alfred Tesseron's biodynamic approach to wine making is literally impossible when you taste his modern day legends after taking the realm in '94. In the golden age for bdx (2000-present), he is one of the leaders year in and year out, and this aristocratic 2005 also offers hedonists the opportunity to get lost in the moment.
Do not look for a overblown california fruit bomb here. This is power and finesse to the highest degree. Impeccable in every way. If you do not like the style, you still would not be able to make the argument that this juice is anything but extraordinary.
As a footnote, somebody said something to the effect of 'beware, this wine may not age well' or something like that... what a rookie.
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Red
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2009 Château Chantemerle Médoc
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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Not as inky as its peers, the 2009 Ch Chantemerle still has a deep, dark red violet red hue. Brimming with aromas of pen ink, dark wild cherries and berries, smoked meat, slightly brett tinged forest floor (not in the barnyard or bandaid style) and graphite, a well defined aromatic personality emerges that begs one to almost question the vintage. On the nose, this is a stylistic juxtaposition of new meets old world Bordeaux. Classicists will be happy to find less use of new oak than its peers, and lovers of ripe vintage bordeaux will be let down by the lack of intense fruit that screams 2009 Bordeaux. The fruit contained in this juice does mimic the style of the vintage, just not to the same level of concentration of its peers.
A fleshy mouthfeel for the old world style is evident even before the midpalate. Also on the attack is black fruits and ink. The flavor is smudgy and lacks dilineation, probably due to the faint touch of VA and high alcohol; this carves a small hole from the midpalate. Nevertheless, the wine is well structured, displaying the tannin shape and structure of 2009, which can best be described as velvet or satin. While super concentrated from a phenolic perspective, the wine's tannin are not intrusive because of the gentle nature of this vintage's style (again, velvety tannin). The finish is hot from the alcohol permeating through the slightly incohesive balance. While ringing up at only 14% (which is only moderately high for this vintage compared to some of its peers), the alcohol does come through to the pencil shaving dominated finish.
All and all a solid Bdx for the money, but there are better buys. The brett in this wine adds a ton of character, and adds to the wine, so do not take this as a flaw. There are more crowd pleasing Medocs at this price point, and ones that are more well made with a similar personality (Ch Le Pey, for instance). But if you do like ripe vintage bordeaux made in the old style, then this wine is worth a try. The combination is more complex than most of its competitors in this price range, and the outcome borders on eccentric confusion.
Drink from release to 2018, conservatively.
Tasted 5 times with consistant notes, scores ranging from 86-89+
BM
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Red
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2003 Château Angélus
St. Émilion Grand Cru
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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Still an adolescent, the purity of the ripe cab franc in this wine is unbelievable, given the low acid vintage. Well delineated scents of ripe wild black cherry, and mentholated cassis-tinged blackberry envelope the vanillin/oak aromas, which have started to recede. Well endowed, this wine possesses a velvety tannic grip, but a soft grip (like taking the hand of a white gloved date to a gala) that is starting to resolve nicely..and sweetly. It is not exotic, nor classical..not a combination of the two either. The palate and aromatics are quite closely aligned, although there is quite a bit more concentration on the palate (although this was tasted with a cold :( )
This is a very concentrated wine, with a long, smooth finish and the ability to gain even more viscosity and weight in the bottle. It can certainly be consumed at present, but I would guess that this wine could develop some interesting and perhaps border on the exotic with another 5-8 years of cellaring.
The only problem is..why not buy 09 or 10 Le Dome for cheaper for some high octane cab franc with new world character, or if you love hot vintage 2003s, some Pichon Lalande?
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Red
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2009 Hauts de Pontet-Canet
Pauillac
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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Felt the need to post detailed tasting notes as the notes for this wine here and on the net were not a decent assessment of the wine at its present state of evolution.
Liquid vanilla. The oak interplay with the merlot gives this wine the unique signature of an 09 bdx with at least 40% Merlot (however I haven't looked at the tech sheet, so thats guesswork at best).
Its very ripe, very balanced and very new worldy. I can't stop thinking that it is a dead ringer for an 8 month younger 09 Rol Valentin (which seems to have shed a touch of its vanillin at present).
Touches of milky chocolate and a feeling of viscosity boost the palate's feeling a bit more than its medium+ body would normally imply. Given its phenolic complexity and low acid, it appears to be an early drinker (kind of implied by the vintage if you are familiar with 2009 bordeaux), but this little brother to the infamous 09 Pontet Canet is still a baby.
Great kirsch, currant and sweet red cherry play nicely with the slightly dusty tannin. In such a ripe vintage I would like a bit more underlying old world complexity and power, but the hedonistic side of me loves how luscious this baby is! It screams drink me now!! For an old world francophile like me, this is the perfect bridge to link old and new world. If you have ever had 03 Pichon Lalande, this is essentially a totally primary, although somewhat dusty-tannined, version of it.
I would give it a 91+ because of the lack of complexity and concentration, but I would recommend this much quicker than most 93-95 pt wines I have tasted just for sheer enjoyment factor. Its so easy to love.
Quick update: 5 hours in and the tannic grip has taken hold, the vanillin has shed its weight giving way to a violet coffee overtone that is seesawing with the black currant and cassisy flavors/aromatics. Very good harmony at this point..not backward, just young. walnutty/Cinnamon/curry/cumin-incense aroma is also pretty cool on the back end of the nose of a soft inhale..midpalate also picked back up. In the end I think this wine will merit a different judgment based on when you taste it..as it is a true kaleidoscope wine (as are so many warm vintage bdx).. Best guess 92 (probably closer to a 91 if rated by parker), but the most delicious 92 pointer you'll taste.
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Red
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2005 Château Léoville Poyferré
St. Julien
Red Bordeaux Blend more
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I think the below note was from a bad bottle, as this juice has power, finesse, concentration, and weight while maintaining a harmonious balance. Light on its feet, it exhibits a fair amount of succulant dark fruits for a stacked wine at such an early stage of development, including cassis and blackberry, a fantastic limestone minerality for a wine of lower acid, sous bois, pepper and asian spices.
The Merlot is quintessential 2005 (as I find all of the high pedigree 2005 wines' Merlot has a earthtoned ripeness that is very hard to find in other wines) and at roughly 30% Merlot, it is seeming to allow the wine to open up considering its vast phenolic concentration. Well dilineated on the palate, it has a balance that will only allow this wine to get better as it gets closer and closer to maturity, which seems a good 7-15 years off (and should have a long plateau after that).
The tannin count is high, but they are so velvety and fine grained; the level of tannin integration is much higher than one would expect, although it is a tannic powerhouse (although not anywhere close to that of Troplong or Pontet, which in this vintage will redefine your definition of tannin). The tannins are sweet and round.
It just isn't as good as the 2003, which is my only complaint on this wine. While I personally prefer the style of 2005 to 2003 from a sensory view, there is just something profound about the 2003 that this wine does not possess to the same extent (perhaps considering the longevity of this wine, this will change with more time in the bottle under ideal conditions).
Great juice, and if you like classically styled ripe vintaged BDX, this wine wont dissappoint! Finesse and masculinity combined, and its better than the high residual sugar fruit bombs that seem to come from everyone in California that are just too smooth...I would highly recommend this for the price, although I would probably recommend 2005 Pontet more if you can find it for the same price..
At the end of the half of the bottle I drank, about 2-3 hours in, some subtle cedar, gaminess and smoke emerged (very subtle for the game and smoke). GORGEOUS!
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