At the Commanderie du Bontemps gala in Versailles. Awesome wine. Complete in many senses: ripe, fresh, broad, layered aromas but compact. Tension. Seductive. Not very developed yet, lots of primary fruit still available. Smooth tannins.long finish… Completely disguising its 18 years ….
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Amazing barnyard aromas immediately after pouring. It was delightful -- rich, earthy, with dirt and soil smells. I loved it. But unfortunately, went away within fifteen minutes. The wine moved through a variety of phases thereafter, all of which were good but not amazing. I will say the finishes throughout were spectacular...long and smooth. I have really come to appreciate the earthiness of fantastic Bordeaux, and while a short window it was pretty awesome.
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Great wine, rich, almost muddy, rich, structured yet soft; complex earth tones, dark berries underneath. My #1 of 13 first growths (I brought it!). DD Blind 1982-2005 Bordeaux 1st Growth dinner at BOA steakhouse.
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Drank from half bottle. Nice floral, powder room nose, red fruits. Espresso, coffee notes, dark fruits on palate. Long finish. Great balance with depth. Improved with air
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The wine looks purple colored. It smells like blackberry, blueberry, black currant (cassis), toast, coffee, oak, vanilla, lead pencil, black pepper and violet.
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Youthful, classically styled, full-bodied, fresh, bright, crisp, chewy, and tannic, the red fruits offer purity, vibrance, and length, along with lead pencil, flowers, spice, cigar box, thyme, and oceanic characteristics. Still in its infancy, the wine needs time to soften, open, and expand, so if you are lucky enough to have a bottle, patience is a virtue here. Drink from 2030-2065.
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Drank next to the 2010 (with the 86, 95, 01, and 06 on the table). Double decanted about 2 hours prior to serving.
In general, drinking young Bdx, especially those of Lafite, is just not that enjoyable for me. Of the 10 and the 05, I found the 10 much more enjoyable at this stage than the 05. To be fair, I feel the same way about Burgs - neither is ready and I have high expectations for both in the future. At this moment, I think the wine is growing up and hints at wine that will impress in the future, but I hope it does not fall apart along the way.
I wouldn't open this again for at least 20 years. That would be a good time to check in. It is not a closed wine (like some colder wines) but a wine that needs time to figure itself out.
I'm beginning to think I am allergic (or something!) to Cabernet Sauvignon because not only do I never buy it, but if possible I avoid it. Especially when it's young. In Lafite's case, 16 years is clearly very young. I can see the objective characteristics in this wine (below), but on a strictly personal level, I found this wine exceptionally unpleasant to drink. Horribly astringent and drying, almost abrasive. Unbalanced, angular... Ugh! And all this almighty fuss over Bordeaux First Growths? Snobbery of the highest order. The 2005 is 89% Cabernet, 10% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot. However, in spite of my complaints, it does have some aromatic charms - eucalyptus, peppermint, blackberry jam, possibly pipe tobacco. It's thick and dense, very long. It seems to be all restraint, waiting to explode. I am prepared to accept that it just perhaps needs time. A lot of time. Maybe these wines shouldn't be drunk under 20 years. But I still struggle to see how it'll be more approachable in just four years' time. Currently retailing in the UK at about £9.5k a case of 12, so around £800 per bottle (no doubt quite a lot cheaper when released of course), this is quite frankly ridiculous and indefensible. For that kind of money there is so much more pleasure to be had elsewhere in wine, so much more. A ludicrous state of affairs. The Chinese billionaires, Texan oil barons, and Russian oligarchs who buy this to gain a social status and credibility they'll never have, can keep it all, quite frankly.
Highlight of my 75th BD celebration. Super garnet color and fruity aroma. Nothing sweet about this wine’s taste. Many flavors hit the palate; ripe dark stone fruits, truffles and graphite. Smooth tannins that cleanse the palate.
A restrained wine still hiding what I think will be a great wine.... it is not there yet. A precise wine made with a purpose, no lose edges that makes you wonder , you know where it’s going. Decanted a few magnums for a few hours but it was not enough and they drank identically. Maybe decanter longer or hold for a few years. I’m sure I’ll will give this 96-97 at some point.
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Medium-dark red color. Modest primary grapey aroma with a spicy oak component. Tannins are overpowering the fruit right now. Austere, but one does detect the ripe underlying fruit. Long aftertaste, just too young now for an accurate numerical score. Corked popped 2 hours before.
From Mark’s 2005 Bordeaux Vintage Tasting: Attended a 36 wine ‘05 Bordeaux tasting recently. The wine above is one of those wines. Served single-blind. All wines were tasted over a 2 day period, 18 per day. The wines served on the 1st day had their corks pulled two hours prior. The second day’s wines were served “ double-decanted”, 2 hours before the first flight. The overall tasting experience was quite different, as one would expect. Day 2 wines were softer, displaying more ripe fruit, and less harsh tannins. Kudos to Mark for both a fantastic experience as well as providing an instructive opportunity on how the 2005 Bordeaux vintage is showing at this stage.
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Slow oxed for thirty minutes. Wow. This wine exudes class. Complex aromas of black currant, graphite and truffle on the nose. The palate is stunning showing the power of the vintage but also being remarkably elegant at the same time. Flavors of black currant, cassis, lead pencil, and undergrowth come through rounding out in a long complex finish. This will be shining star for many years.
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Such a pleasure to try this. Just so concentrated and tannic still. Definitely needs more cellar time but has great potential. 94-96 potential. Drink in 5 years.
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Wine Group Dinner #169 - 2005 Bordeaux Part 2 (Urbane Restaurant, Brisbane): Wine Group Dinner #169, Urbane Restaurant. The 2005 Lafite was the most reserved wine tonight with a subdued nose of blackcurrant, dark chocolate and cedar following the deep and dark crimson colour. The palate was an intense ball of fruit yet had a surprising softness and elegance on the finish. With time in the glass it seemed to evolve and each sip seemed increasingly complex and interesting without really hitting its straps. Tonight it is excellent yet not great in the way that you might expect. I suspect it still needs plenty of cellar time.
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Zachy's Lafite Auction (Le Bernardin Prive): Really complex nose and a multitude on the palate. Game, cherry, chocolate, classic graphite and pencil box, quite animalistic. Palate needs some time to integrated with this punching acidity; might not turn out as well as expected. 93
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The wine looks purple colored. It smells like blackberry, blueberry, black currant (cassis), toast, coffee, oak, vanilla, lead pencil, black pepper and violet.
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50ml by the glass in 67 PM. Left to air for 1 hour in the glass prior to tasting and part of a mini line-up of 1st growths we selected to sample side by side. I expected this to be really closed at this point and was surprised at how drinkable this actually was (maybe also function of this having being Coravin'ed couple times over and in my experience this leads to gentle oxidation). Visually the darkest in the line-up together, for it also was the youngest by around a decade margin. Some tobacco notes on the nose, spice. On the palate very classic medium bodied (was probably expecting a bit more concentration), extremely well balanced harmonious Pauillac. Definitely a very well done wine that will benefit for decades in the cellar although drinking one from say 2020 onwards with a decant should not be a crime either. Comparing this in my mind to my previous experience with the 05 Mouton though I must give vote the latter (I rated the Mouton 98 pts) - I think the Mouton is the better, more interesting wine and is also selling for quite a bit less then the Lafite.
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Chateau Lafite Rothschild - 20 year vertical blind tasting (Fribourg): Tasted blind. Dark ruby. Expressive nose of dark fruit, forest floor, barnyard cedar, very complex and very complete. Enters the palate ripe and dense with excellent mid mouth presence where it shows impeccable balance. Finishes long and aromatic. Still young but leaves no doubt how good it is. For me, shares the top spot of the night. Up there at the same level as the 2010 which was the WOTN. Group rank # 2/20. Readiness: Wait.
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Annual Comparative Bordeaux Tasting (2000/2005) (Chicago, IL): This is kind of like the 2000, but tuned up a dial. Everything is just larger-scaled and bigger here. But at the same time, it's less prone to giving its charms up, and thanks to the scale, this is much more brutish than the lither and more elegant 2000. You know, the thing about this wine is that it's just... big.
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Looking quite young, with only a minor change of color, the wine is slowly starting to develop secondary characteristics, with tobacco, cedar, charcoal, wet earth, forest floor and cassis in the bouquet. The wine has the smoothness of silk, with layers of soft, polished, ripe, sweet cassis in its long finish. Still young, this will be better in 15 years, or is that 30 years?
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Excellent Bordeaux, but not at the level I was expecting from a 2005 first growth. I had a much better experience with the Ducru-Beaucaillou 2005. Still very young, it needed some time in the decanter (3-4 hours wouldn't be too much). Smooth tannins, medium complexity (this should change in the next 10-15 years), perfect balance and very good length. Do not open before 2020-2025.
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The 2005 Lafite wastes no time in seducing your sense of smell with strong graphite, damp earth, and dry espresso beans. While the wine is clearly rich and full bodied, it glides across the palate like silk, vanishing in the mouth like a featherweight beast. Ghostly dry, the vanishing wine teases your mouth for a full minute after its grand entrance. Its like magic! Though I think that drinking young bordeaux is a crime, this one is peaking in stage one of its 9 lives! Sex for sale...
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Bordeaux 2005 : Ten years on (Bordeaux Index London): Left Bank wine of the vintage, based on this tasting. This is quite amazing as it combines elegance and grace and subtle power. So much dry extract. Really impressive. Larger palate, when compared to Mouton and more grace when compared to Latour. This is really biting into a lead pencil as well - very Cabernet driven with a long, long finish.
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First Growths Masterclass, Sydney. Double-decanted 90 minutes prior to tasting. Deep, clear red-ruby in colour. Charming nose of creme de cassis and graphite. Midweight palate of black fruit, char and some early secondary characteristics of leather/tobacco. A little one dimensional, and probably in a dumb period. Long finish with lovely fine tannins. I doubt this is showing at its best.
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United Cellars Grand Bordeaux Tasting 2013 (Royal Automobile Club, Macquarie Street, Sydney): Deep ruby, clear and bright, slight rim fade. Medium intensity with subdued fruit, biscuity quality, slight cedar, surprisingly muted, with agitation it opens to cassis, slightly warm on nose with charred notes. In the mouth the wine is savoury, spicy and a tiny touch of farmyard, black fruit, quite light in the mouth, fine, very slightly talcy, tannic grip, slight alcohol warmth. Bit closed. I'm assuming it's in its dumb phase.
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vertical tasting with lafite 1996,2000,2003 and 2005. 1996 classic,smooth,spice,long-finishing/68seconds,still bit young,we give 98+. 2000,freshing,strong tannnis,cigar,oak,hints of chocolate? 97+. 2003,special,fruity,sily,spcies,not classic style as some would say,but tannis is nice,enjoyed,96+. 2005, sum of 96+2000, compared to 2003,not very easy to reach,but we give confirmed 98-100.
Dark purple red in color, this was popped but not poured for about 4 hours before serving. Amazing nose of spicy black fruits, earth and tobacco. Amzing silky mouthfeel with terrific richness. Young but already integrated. This wine is spectacular.
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BORDEAUX 2005 / Cabernet rules; 4/5/2006-4/10/2006 (Bordeaux): A very delicate aroma of cedar and black currant emerge from the glass, but 20 minutes in glass bring forth light chocolate notes as well. The attack is discrete but enveloping. What impresses most is the sheer silkiness of this wine’s texture. There is richness, too, but not the brambly and somewhat obvious richness by comparison from the 2003, when I tasted that one en primeur two years ago. The 2005 is superior to the 2003 because – and this goes for many wines tasted in 2005 – there is greater nuance, elegance and especially freshness, but the richness is there, too. Chevalier said that the 2005 reminds him of the classicism of the 2004 and the “harmonious quality” of the 1996, but that the 2005 is fresher than either one. Only 12.9% alcohol. Very likely to improve in barrel. For now, 94-96
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2005 Bordeaux en Primeur; 3/26/2006-3/28/2006 (Bordeaux France): En Primeur tasting. Black and red cherry aromas with hints of black currant, dried flowers, cedar, anise and black pepper. Similar flavors, slightly more black vs red, with impeccable balance. Layers of flavor already coming through. 89% Cab Sauv, 11% Merlot, 1% PV. My top wine of the week, 96-99 point potential, 2020 forward.
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2/14/2024 - Spikemaster Likes this wine: 98 Points
At the Commanderie du Bontemps gala in Versailles. Awesome wine. Complete in many senses: ripe, fresh, broad, layered aromas but compact. Tension. Seductive. Not very developed yet, lots of primary fruit still available. Smooth tannins.long finish… Completely disguising its 18 years ….
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2/10/2024 - alexbhurst1678 wrote: 96 Points
Amazing barnyard aromas immediately after pouring. It was delightful -- rich, earthy, with dirt and soil smells. I loved it. But unfortunately, went away within fifteen minutes. The wine moved through a variety of phases thereafter, all of which were good but not amazing. I will say the finishes throughout were spectacular...long and smooth. I have really come to appreciate the earthiness of fantastic Bordeaux, and while a short window it was pretty awesome.
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1/25/2024 - peternelson Likes this wine: 94 Points
Great wine, rich, almost muddy, rich, structured yet soft; complex earth tones, dark berries underneath. My #1 of 13 first growths (I brought it!). DD Blind 1982-2005 Bordeaux 1st Growth dinner at BOA steakhouse.
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9/3/2023 - dnnk88 Likes this wine: 95 Points
Drank from half bottle. Nice floral, powder room nose, red fruits. Espresso, coffee notes, dark fruits on palate. Long finish. Great balance with depth. Improved with air
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6/11/2023 - Sean Tay wrote:
The wine looks purple colored. It smells like blackberry, blueberry, black currant (cassis), toast, coffee, oak, vanilla, lead pencil, black pepper and violet.
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7/9/2022 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
Youthful, classically styled, full-bodied, fresh, bright, crisp, chewy, and tannic, the red fruits offer purity, vibrance, and length, along with lead pencil, flowers, spice, cigar box, thyme, and oceanic characteristics. Still in its infancy, the wine needs time to soften, open, and expand, so if you are lucky enough to have a bottle, patience is a virtue here. Drink from 2030-2065.
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3/30/2022 - AValdes wrote: 91 Points
Drank next to the 2010 (with the 86, 95, 01, and 06 on the table). Double decanted about 2 hours prior to serving.
In general, drinking young Bdx, especially those of Lafite, is just not that enjoyable for me. Of the 10 and the 05, I found the 10 much more enjoyable at this stage than the 05. To be fair, I feel the same way about Burgs - neither is ready and I have high expectations for both in the future. At this moment, I think the wine is growing up and hints at wine that will impress in the future, but I hope it does not fall apart along the way.
I wouldn't open this again for at least 20 years. That would be a good time to check in. It is not a closed wine (like some colder wines) but a wine that needs time to figure itself out.
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1/30/2022 - levicn Likes this wine: 93 Points
醒酒两个半小时，闻香有皮毛味，青椒，醋栗和烤面包的香气，入口酸度中高，单宁紧致，颗粒细腻如粉，酒液咸鲜，矿物感，火腿一类的肉味，青椒混合着醋栗的香气，后段植物的微苦和清凉感，余味是香料味和香草气息。喝过一些2005年的波尔多，最大的感受就是酒很强，而拉菲真的惊到我了，居然还是一如既往的优雅平衡，与世无争。和那些强劲宏大风格的2005波尔多真的好不一样。喝了一口又一口，反复问自己，我喝懂它了吗？
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10/2/2021 - WorrellWine wrote:
Special occasion . Do not pull Theresa 😂
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9/29/2021 - ricard Does not like this wine: 93 Points
I'm beginning to think I am allergic (or something!) to Cabernet Sauvignon because not only do I never buy it, but if possible I avoid it. Especially when it's young. In Lafite's case, 16 years is clearly very young. I can see the objective characteristics in this wine (below), but on a strictly personal level, I found this wine exceptionally unpleasant to drink. Horribly astringent and drying, almost abrasive. Unbalanced, angular... Ugh! And all this almighty fuss over Bordeaux First Growths? Snobbery of the highest order. The 2005 is 89% Cabernet, 10% Merlot, and 1% Petit Verdot. However, in spite of my complaints, it does have some aromatic charms - eucalyptus, peppermint, blackberry jam, possibly pipe tobacco. It's thick and dense, very long. It seems to be all restraint, waiting to explode. I am prepared to accept that it just perhaps needs time. A lot of time. Maybe these wines shouldn't be drunk under 20 years. But I still struggle to see how it'll be more approachable in just four years' time. Currently retailing in the UK at about £9.5k a case of 12, so around £800 per bottle (no doubt quite a lot cheaper when released of course), this is quite frankly ridiculous and indefensible. For that kind of money there is so much more pleasure to be had elsewhere in wine, so much more. A ludicrous state of affairs. The Chinese billionaires, Texan oil barons, and Russian oligarchs who buy this to gain a social status and credibility they'll never have, can keep it all, quite frankly.
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9/20/2021 - Gooddummy Likes this wine: 95 Points
1/2 a bottle leftover from yesterday. Still super delicious.
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9/19/2021 - Gooddummy Likes this wine: 96 Points
Highlight of my 75th BD celebration. Super garnet color and fruity aroma. Nothing sweet about this wine’s taste. Many flavors hit the palate; ripe dark stone fruits, truffles and graphite. Smooth tannins that cleanse the palate.
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8/15/2021 - Golf_Wine Likes this wine: 94 Points
A restrained wine still hiding what I think will be a great wine.... it is not there yet. A precise wine made with a purpose, no lose edges that makes you wonder , you know where it’s going. Decanted a few magnums for a few hours but it was not enough and they drank identically. Maybe decanter longer or hold for a few years. I’m sure I’ll will give this 96-97 at some point.
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7/4/2021 - VinhoVerde Likes this wine:
Medium-dark red color. Modest primary grapey aroma with a spicy oak component. Tannins are overpowering the fruit right now. Austere, but one does detect the ripe underlying fruit. Long aftertaste, just too young now for an accurate numerical score.
Corked popped 2 hours before.
From Mark’s 2005 Bordeaux Vintage Tasting:
Attended a 36 wine ‘05 Bordeaux tasting recently. The wine above is one of those wines. Served single-blind.
All wines were tasted over a 2 day period, 18 per day. The wines served on the 1st day had their corks pulled two hours prior. The second day’s wines were served “ double-decanted”, 2 hours before the first flight. The overall tasting experience was quite different, as one would expect. Day 2 wines were softer, displaying more ripe fruit, and less harsh tannins.
Kudos to Mark for both a fantastic experience as well as providing an instructive opportunity on how the 2005 Bordeaux vintage is showing at this stage.
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6/26/2021 - Eric wrote:
2005 Bordeaux at 16 years courtesy of Mark Taylor; 6/26/2021-6/27/2021 (Atlanta, GA): Mmm, pencil lead, coffee, and mineral. Very Lafite like. My #4 and the group #5. Correctly guessed Lafite.
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10/24/2020 - mclanew Likes this wine: 97 Points
Slow oxed for thirty minutes. Wow. This wine exudes class. Complex aromas of black currant, graphite and truffle on the nose. The palate is stunning showing the power of the vintage but also being remarkably elegant at the same time. Flavors of black currant, cassis, lead pencil, and undergrowth come through rounding out in a long complex finish. This will be shining star for many years.
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8/27/2020 - LB88 wrote: 94 Points
Such a pleasure to try this. Just so concentrated and tannic still. Definitely needs more cellar time but has great potential. 94-96 potential. Drink in 5 years.
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12/7/2019 - RayOB wrote: 97 Points
Drank at P&G
Utterly perfect but still slightly too young
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6/12/2019 - drjb Likes this wine: 94 Points
Wine Group Dinner #169 - 2005 Bordeaux Part 2 (Urbane Restaurant, Brisbane): Wine Group Dinner #169, Urbane Restaurant. The 2005 Lafite was the most reserved wine tonight with a subdued nose of blackcurrant, dark chocolate and cedar following the deep and dark crimson colour. The palate was an intense ball of fruit yet had a surprising softness and elegance on the finish. With time in the glass it seemed to evolve and each sip seemed increasingly complex and interesting without really hitting its straps. Tonight it is excellent yet not great in the way that you might expect. I suspect it still needs plenty of cellar time.
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3/30/2019 - hprphf wrote: 93 Points
Zachy's Lafite Auction (Le Bernardin Prive): Really complex nose and a multitude on the palate. Game, cherry, chocolate, classic graphite and pencil box, quite animalistic. Palate needs some time to integrated with this punching acidity; might not turn out as well as expected. 93
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12/1/2018 - Sean Tay wrote:
The wine looks purple colored. It smells like blackberry, blueberry, black currant (cassis), toast, coffee, oak, vanilla, lead pencil, black pepper and violet.
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8/30/2017 - BenBlu Likes this wine: 96 Points
50ml by the glass in 67 PM. Left to air for 1 hour in the glass prior to tasting and part of a mini line-up of 1st growths we selected to sample side by side. I expected this to be really closed at this point and was surprised at how drinkable this actually was (maybe also function of this having being Coravin'ed couple times over and in my experience this leads to gentle oxidation). Visually the darkest in the line-up together, for it also was the youngest by around a decade margin. Some tobacco notes on the nose, spice. On the palate very classic medium bodied (was probably expecting a bit more concentration), extremely well balanced harmonious Pauillac. Definitely a very well done wine that will benefit for decades in the cellar although drinking one from say 2020 onwards with a decant should not be a crime either. Comparing this in my mind to my previous experience with the 05 Mouton though I must give vote the latter (I rated the Mouton 98 pts) - I think the Mouton is the better, more interesting wine and is also selling for quite a bit less then the Lafite.
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3/15/2016 - Collector1855 wrote: 99 Points
Chateau Lafite Rothschild - 20 year vertical blind tasting (Fribourg): Tasted blind. Dark ruby. Expressive nose of dark fruit, forest floor, barnyard cedar, very complex and very complete. Enters the palate ripe and dense with excellent mid mouth presence where it shows impeccable balance. Finishes long and aromatic. Still young but leaves no doubt how good it is. For me, shares the top spot of the night. Up there at the same level as the 2010 which was the WOTN. Group rank # 2/20. Readiness: Wait.
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12/25/2015 - Corgi wrote:
Quintessential claret. Poised and balanced.
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10/29/2015 - acyso wrote: 90 Points
Annual Comparative Bordeaux Tasting (2000/2005) (Chicago, IL): This is kind of like the 2000, but tuned up a dial. Everything is just larger-scaled and bigger here. But at the same time, it's less prone to giving its charms up, and thanks to the scale, this is much more brutish than the lither and more elegant 2000. You know, the thing about this wine is that it's just... big.
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6/28/2015 - Jeff Leve wrote: 97 Points
Looking quite young, with only a minor change of color, the wine is slowly starting to develop secondary characteristics, with tobacco, cedar, charcoal, wet earth, forest floor and cassis in the bouquet. The wine has the smoothness of silk, with layers of soft, polished, ripe, sweet cassis in its long finish. Still young, this will be better in 15 years, or is that 30 years?
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6/18/2015 - Francois Le Mouel Likes this wine: 94 Points
Excellent Bordeaux, but not at the level I was expecting from a 2005 first growth. I had a much better experience with the Ducru-Beaucaillou 2005. Still very young, it needed some time in the decanter (3-4 hours wouldn't be too much). Smooth tannins, medium complexity (this should change in the next 10-15 years), perfect balance and very good length. Do not open before 2020-2025.
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3/2/2015 - Purple Tooth wrote: 98 Points
The 2005 Lafite wastes no time in seducing your sense of smell with strong graphite, damp earth, and dry espresso beans. While the wine is clearly rich and full bodied, it glides across the palate like silk, vanishing in the mouth like a featherweight beast. Ghostly dry, the vanishing wine teases your mouth for a full minute after its grand entrance. Its like magic! Though I think that drinking young bordeaux is a crime, this one is peaking in stage one of its 9 lives! Sex for sale...
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1/29/2015 - PanosKakaviatos Likes this wine: 99 Points
Bordeaux 2005 : Ten years on (Bordeaux Index London): Left Bank wine of the vintage, based on this tasting. This is quite amazing as it combines elegance and grace and subtle power. So much dry extract. Really impressive. Larger palate, when compared to Mouton and more grace when compared to Latour. This is really biting into a lead pencil as well - very Cabernet driven with a long, long finish.
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11/25/2014 - fcxj wrote: 96 Points
Infanticide, Ficofi
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5/10/2013 - wenderoth wrote: 88 Points
First Growths Masterclass, Sydney. Double-decanted 90 minutes prior to tasting. Deep, clear red-ruby in colour. Charming nose of creme de cassis and graphite. Midweight palate of black fruit, char and some early secondary characteristics of leather/tobacco. A little one dimensional, and probably in a dumb period. Long finish with lovely fine tannins. I doubt this is showing at its best.
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5/9/2013 - chatters wrote:
United Cellars Grand Bordeaux Tasting 2013 (Royal Automobile Club, Macquarie Street, Sydney): Deep ruby, clear and bright, slight rim fade. Medium intensity with subdued fruit, biscuity quality, slight cedar, surprisingly muted, with agitation it opens to cassis, slightly warm on nose with charred notes. In the mouth the wine is savoury, spicy and a tiny touch of farmyard, black fruit, quite light in the mouth, fine, very slightly talcy, tannic grip, slight alcohol warmth. Bit closed. I'm assuming it's in its dumb phase.
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6/22/2010 - Hub wrote:
10.7% Merlot, 88.8% Cabernet, .5% Petit Verdot,
sweet nose, tannins with blueberry, rasberry sweet black cherry
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4/11/2010 - yuan wrote: 100 Points
vertical tasting with lafite 1996,2000,2003 and 2005. 1996 classic,smooth,spice,long-finishing/68seconds,still bit young,we give 98+. 2000,freshing,strong tannnis,cigar,oak,hints of chocolate? 97+. 2003,special,fruity,sily,spcies,not classic style as some would say,but tannis is nice,enjoyed,96+. 2005, sum of 96+2000, compared to 2003,not very easy to reach,but we give confirmed 98-100.
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11/16/2009 - rwstorer wrote: 99 Points
Dark purple red in color, this was popped but not poured for about 4 hours before serving. Amazing nose of spicy black fruits, earth and tobacco. Amzing silky mouthfeel with terrific richness. Young but already integrated. This wine is spectacular.
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10/1/2008 - Remony wrote: 99 Points
2005 Red Bordeaux Vintage Farr Vintners Masterclass (Vintners Hall, City of London): Very fine and deep colour. Nose is sheer class. Not remotely ready of course, but sublime even tonight. Delicate alongside Margaux & Latour. Dumb but wonderful.
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4/10/2006 - PanosKakaviatos Likes this wine: 95 Points
BORDEAUX 2005 / Cabernet rules; 4/5/2006-4/10/2006 (Bordeaux): A very delicate aroma of cedar and black currant emerge from the glass, but 20 minutes in glass bring forth light chocolate notes as well. The attack is discrete but enveloping. What impresses most is the sheer silkiness of this wine’s texture. There is richness, too, but not the brambly and somewhat obvious richness by comparison from the 2003, when I tasted that one en primeur two years ago. The 2005 is superior to the 2003 because – and this goes for many wines tasted in 2005 – there is greater nuance, elegance and especially freshness, but the richness is there, too. Chevalier said that the 2005 reminds him of the classicism of the 2004 and the “harmonious quality” of the 1996, but that the 2005 is fresher than either one. Only 12.9% alcohol. Very likely to improve in barrel. For now, 94-96
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3/28/2006 - Burgundy Al wrote:
2005 Bordeaux en Primeur; 3/26/2006-3/28/2006 (Bordeaux France): En Primeur tasting. Black and red cherry aromas with hints of black currant, dried flowers, cedar, anise and black pepper. Similar flavors, slightly more black vs red, with impeccable balance. Layers of flavor already coming through. 89% Cab Sauv, 11% Merlot, 1% PV. My top wine of the week, 96-99 point potential, 2020 forward.
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