2005 Larkmead Vineyards LMV Salon

Community Tasting Notes (14) Avg Score: 92.9 points

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  6/18/2023 - wirelesswine Likes this wine: 94 Points

  From magnum. Plum, blackberry, cassis, pencil shavings pipe tobacco. On the palate this is absolute silk but with a lot of weight to it, finish is 30+ seconds. Delicious.

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  1/14/2023 - sfwinelover1 Likes this wine: 94 Points

  One off ($99 with discount) from same recent purchase as the Sammarco. On the nose and palate, medium notes of black cherries, mixed berries, red currants, dark florals, leather, chocolate, ground spice and graphite. Medium purple with a slight brownish hue, medium bodied, medium to thick legs. Light and completely integrated acidity, medium- silky and well-integrated tannins, no heat. VG+ complexity VG persistence, good+ intensity. The cork pretty much disintegrated on opening—cursing myself again for failing to use the 2 prong for an older bottle—and the wine was so ready to on the PnP that I wondered if I had another ‘06 Eisele situation on my hands. The fruit was luscious, but not particularly intense, what structure there was so integrated as to appear almost invisible. After filtering, I recorked with what was left of the cork as I drank, worried that the clock might have been ticking and this was going to go completely flat like the Eisele. As it turned out, this concern was for naught, as this wine not only held well, but at least in terms of the fruit and secondary notes, deepened over the 2 nights I had it open, making for a lovely and elegant drink, albeit one leaning far more toward finesse, dare I say femininity, than the recent ‘08 and ‘09 of this bottling. Although the CS component is a fairly bare majority, I’d have guessed it far greater, with just a touch of roundness from the merlot, a slight herbality from the CF. Even with the super light structure, this was a great food wine, excelling with deep dish pizza one night, mixed grill the next. And while this is the oldest Larkmead wine I’ve had and the first ‘05, at least of this bottling, and its lightness makes me think it’s in a drink now mode, it seems like its traits have been there from the outset and it held well over the 2 nights, so while I think upside unlikely, at least several years of quality drinking may remain ahead. The ‘08 and ‘09 are stunning, truly exceptional especially when price is taken into account. This isn’t that, a solid couple of points lower from this grader, but still wonderfully enjoyable, and as almost always the case with LMs, highly recommended. 94+

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  8/25/2022 - Napacablover Likes this wine: 95 Points

  Spectacular!!

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  4/3/2015 - kennyd Likes this wine: 90 Points

  I concur with the recent comments. However, I'm wondering if the wine has flattened off. Even after 60+ minutes decanting (and drinking over another 2-3 hours), at no point was there much that was really interesting going on, either in the bouquet or in the taste. I gave it the 90 just because it did have the nice smooth taste of a relatively aged, higher-end Cali bordeaux-style red. But, it didn't exhibit the strength and "wow factor" that I have usually seen from the Larkmead reserves. I have '06's, '07's and '08's that I hope are better.

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  11/15/2014 - yeti575rider wrote:

  Took to Smoking Goat. Generally consistent with last bottle. Very nice but 2005 is not my favorite for Larkmead - the 2004 Firebelles for example are better. This a bit more restrained although it did improve as dinner went on so don't think there is any real hurry to drink.

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