2005 Château Montrose
Community Tasting Note
chatters wrote:
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 - Chateau Montrose Tasting (Bentley Bar & Restaurant, Sydney): Polished, rich and generous nose shows good quality oak, sweet spice, bacon fat, blackcurrant, plums a little violet, smells younger than the 2011, touch of clay. Juicy and generous here on the palate as well, a little savoury, almost salted liquorice notes joins the black hued fruits, tannins are woody, talc textured and super persistent, a little sous bois joins on the finish with the liquorice slightly more pronounced. Pretty clever
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6 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (3,303 views)
6 people found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue (3,303 views)
Comment posted by SARED:
4/26/2024 5:42:00 AM - Did you prefer 2019 to 2005?
Comment posted by chatters:
4/26/2024 5:59:00 AM - on the night in question i preferred the 2011 to the 2019 and the 2005...it was drinking superbly for me.
Comparing the 2019 and the 2005 is very hard. The change in wine-making & viticultural approaches in the last 20 years are nigh on seismic when taking into account climate change as well. The 2005 is from the Parker years and, though I don't really consider Montrose a follower of that doctrine, all producers were impacted to some extent. Additionally the 2019 is a demonstration of how eminently approachable young Bordeaux is nowadays. Finally taking into account the, albeit slow, evolution of the 2005 versus the youthful impetuosity of the 2019 well, it's like having a faithful wolfhound and a young pup...on any given occasion they are both wonderful to have around...
Sorry, the short answer is, dunno...today maybe the 2019 but tomorrow I may have changed back to the 2005...In an ideal world a couple of bottles of each would do me just fine
cheers, chatters
Comment posted by SARED:
4/26/2024 7:02:00 AM - Thank you. I prefer 2005 to 2019, but have not had them side-by-side
Comment posted by chatters:
4/26/2024 7:08:00 AM - Just out of curiosity, why do you prefer the 2005?
Comment posted by SARED:
4/26/2024 8:50:00 AM - You can see my notes on the 2019. I feel 2019 is more ripe, hedonistic, and alcohol wine than I like. Straddles the middle of Napa and Bordeaux for me. I still scored it very well, as it was still in balance.. but an overall expression I wasn't enamored with. A more recent bottle - that was slightly too cool - showed better. That would be expected given my concerns of 'bigness' (a cooler temp brining more stoniness to the wine / masking the alcohol) but then lose a bit of expressiveness. I've had a couple 2005s and I have experienced great bottle variation.. one was just smashingly delicious and the other a bit too tannic... but overall I like the more classic approach of the '05. You can see my note on '20 as well.. I found that to be a very different animal to '19. I suspect I will like '23 (if its a lower alc '19 / less savory than '20).
Comment posted by chatters:
4/26/2024 4:20:00 PM - Thanks...based on what you've written here, you might want to have a look at the 2021. It's a completely underrated vintage but worth seeking out at a tasting...
Comment posted by SARED:
4/26/2024 6:48:00 PM - Thanks! I bought a couple 21 but haven’t tried. My hope is it presents earlier drinking (that 2020 is going to need a LONG time!). Curious where 2023 prices.
Comment posted by chatters:
4/26/2024 7:52:00 PM - After 2022 they are talking about a 20-30% cut - releases start Monday so we'll see what happens but I am hopeful
Comment posted by SARED:
4/27/2024 10:34:00 AM - Below are UK prices + $20 (all in USD). Needs to be 20% to just get down to 2019. Go 30% and then its same price as 2021. Which means 25% to get in between 2019-2021. But then what happens to 2022.....?
2022 $200
2021 $140
2020 $195
2019 $165
Comment posted by chatters:
4/28/2024 1:13:00 AM - In Australia these wines are offensively expensive: According to Wine-Searcher:
2021 $362
2020 $491
2019 $477
2018 $510
Comment posted by SARED:
4/28/2024 12:34:00 PM - Can Aussies not buy IB from UK or Hong Kong in bond, and ship direct ex-VAT?
Comment posted by chatters:
4/28/2024 6:29:00 PM - Yup, but the tax is the issue - we have something called Wine Equalisation Tax which is charged at 29% based on the sum of the value of the wine, the cost of shipping, the cost of the insurance and any duty.
This does lead to the rather odd situation that it is cheaper to buy some high end Australian wines overseas than here.