Bordeaux Today (2005s & A Lone 2004)

From the start this looked to be a very interesting tasting covering mostly value 2005s with some higher end wines thrown in. With the second half being a blind flight this tasting promised to be quite educational and challenging.

• 2005 Château de Rochemorin Blanc 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves, Pessac-Léognan

  Quite radiant in the glass with a light translucent gold color. The nose is very expressive with honeysuckle, apricot, pineapple, and even some botrytis. There is great concentration on the palate with mineral nuances to the orange peel flavor. Good persistence on the dry finish which has a slightly bitter botrytis character. A very solid effort at this price point.

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• 2005 Château Plaisance (Premières Côtes de Bordeaux) Cuvée Alix 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Entre-Deux-Mers, Premières Côtes de Bordeaux

  Dark brick red purple throughout. This is explosive and ripe on the nose but somewhat monotonous showing dark inky berries. The palate starts off well with an attractive entry leading to notes of plum and herbs. There is good overall balance in this wine and the menthol laced finish adds admirable complexity. I found this to be a good value.

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• 2005 Château Le Conseiller (Jean-Philippe Janoueix) 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Bordeaux Supérieur

  Gorgeous crystalline purity in the color of this wine with a garnet core and a light purple rim. On the nose this is quite high toned with raspberry and some herbal character. The palate seems somewhat closed, offering herb and oak nuances which seem to mask the fruit at this point. To me this wine came off as quite closed on the palate but I think it has potential. 88+?

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• 2005 Clos de la Cure 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Nice deep red throughout to light purple at the rim. This wine offers a radiant bouquet with notes of ripe strawberries, wild berries, and cinnamon. The initial mouthfeel is quite supple leading to firm sweet tannins and fresh acidity with the fruit seeming to linger in the background. I think this wine has good potential with moderate cellaring.

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• 2005 Clos des Jacobins 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Dark red garnet core with medium thick legs in the glass. The nose is slyly seductive and elegant with notes of soft red berries, plums, and a hint of licorice. The palate is sweet and seductive on the entry with brambly cherry and red currant fruit flavors leading to a long cinnamon tinged finish. This wine offers great balance in that it is approachable but the excellent structure is also readily apparent. Yet another great success from St. Emilion in this vintage.

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• 2005 Château Lafleur-Gazin 87 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Translucent brick red fading substantially at the rim with medium thin legs in the glass. The elegant aromas of cherry and plum are quite sharp when addressing this wine. There is an impression of high acidity on the palate which also shows leafy fruit and tannins. Those factors also seem give the finish some acidic bitterness that is refreshing yet clumsy. Overall I found this wine to be somewhat thin and soft structured for what I look for in Bordeaux but I think it could be quite attractive to a Burgundy lover for example.

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• 2005 Château Mejean 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Graves

  Dark red purple core to light purple at the rim. This offers brilliant terroir on the nose with notes of slate and earth as well as sweet fruits such as blackberry and raspberry. The supple licorice laced entry on this wine is undeniably attractive and leads to lifted dark berries and sweet tannins. I also found this wine to be gorgeously balanced and structured. Reminds me of the Larrivet Haut Brion which I also found to be a compelling effort in this vintage.

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• 2005 Château Charmail 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Haut-Médoc

  Deep raspberry core with a light purple rim. The aromas are very attractive with specific notes of currant, boysenberry, and crushed stones. The same attractive fruit character spills over onto the palate giving this wine a charming approachability. There are ample sweet tannins which give this wine solid structure. I also enjoyed the complexity provided by the baking spice finish. A number of quality conscious producers in the Haut-Médoc have offered extremely strong wines in this vintage and for me this is definitely one of them.

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• 2005 Château Giscours 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Margaux

  Very dark opaque purple to the rim. This explodes with gorgeous crushed berry and cherry aromas which offer subtle elegance and mineral tone. Beginning with a sweet glycerol entry the palate seems to be hiding a deep dark secret. With this wine I only got a notion of the dark concentrated fruit lurking beneath; like bumping into something massive in the dark and wondering if it is friend or foe. I think there is a lot of potential energy in this one and it will erupt at some point. This might be a bit brawny for a Margaux at this stage but I think with time some delicacy and elegance should reveal itself. 93+

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• 2004 Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Opaque dark purple core with medium legs in the glass. There is an undeniably unique streak to the bouquet of this wine which is hard to place but seems to offer an herbal quality to the dark currant, licorice, and earth also present. The palate has fine high-toned flavors of red berry and currant fruit with herbal undertones. The tannin acid structure is firm and balances well with the fruit in the wine. Finally the long finish is very attractive with a sweet anise quality to it. I have heard the 2005 is terribly disappointing so I think this is the wine to buy if you are looking for a solid well priced Pichon Lalande.

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These wines were tasted completely blind except for knowing that they were all 2005 Bordeaux. I have to admit that it was quite difficult to place these wines but it made for a very interesting challenge. After the tasting this flight was revealed to be all Parker 90 pointers. Looking back I did find these all to be quite good with similar quality and some stylistic differences.

• 2005 Clos Manou 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc

  Dark purple core to the rim with medium legs in the glass. I find the nose on this to be quite high-strung and awkward with bubblegum, plum, and oak aromas. The palate comes across as somewhat closed because the strong acidity seems to mask the fruit somewhat. I did not find a lot of structure and that combined with the nose directed me to peg it as a lesser right bank wine in the $20-30 range. With all of that being said the disconnect between the nose and the palate seems to suggest this wine is in a strange place so I gave it the benefit of the doubt.

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• 2005 Epicurea de Château Martinat 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Côtes de Bourg

  Dark purple color with good density to the rim. Very expressive and terroir driven on the nose with notes of pencil shavings, currant, and tobacco smoke. The entry is engagingly sweet and leads first to the firm tannin structure which is held up by massive underlying dark fruit. Because of the distinct aromas on the nose and the beefy structure on the palate I guessed this was a classified left banker in the $50-60 range. I wasn’t expecting this to be a lesser right bank wine so for me the quality is there and the price is right.

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• 2005 Château Cordeillan-Bages 88 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Médoc, Pauillac

  Dark translucent red with medium thin legs in the glass. The nose is straightforward with good elegance and notes of sour cherry, currant, and raspberry. The palate offers soft red fruit with a pleasant mineral undertone. I felt this wine offered good balance but only marginal structure and as a result I guessed it was a Haut-Médoc in the $20-30 range. After learning which wine this was I concede that it could possibly have been closed but even considering that I still don’t feel it is a profound wine.

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• 2005 Clos René 91 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Pomerol

  Pure dark red with good density to the rim. The nose seems simple and closed at this point only offering some hint of berries. On the palate the fruit is dark and chunky with firm tannins and strong overall structure. Going simply off the structure in this wine I guessed it was a classified left banker in the $40-50 range. I was quite surprised that this was a Pomerol as I would expect more on the nose from that appellation but this wine could very well have been closed.

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• 2005 Château Pavie Arômes de Pavie 93 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, St. Émilion Grand Cru

  Dark red purple to the rim with medium thick legs in the glass. Right away the nose comes across as quite impressive to me with plum sauce, boysenberry, and slate; just dripping with goodness. The seductive dark tone carries over to the palate which offers dark berry fruit and sweet firm tannins. This also comes across as highly structured and that combined with the exotic nature of the fruit led me to believe it was a St. Émilion in the $50-60 range. I obviously found this second wine of Pavie to be quite good and for me it points to massive potential for the first wine.

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• 2005 Château de la Dauphine 90 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Libournais, Fronsac

  Dark garnet red fading at the rim. The nose offers high-toned notes of currant and raspberry. The fruit on the palate is quite seductive with flavors of cherry and red berry. The tannins are quite sweet and approachable but still give this wine adequate structure and body. I had a hard time placing this wine as nothing really stuck out but I eventually settled on the Haut-Médoc in the $20-30 range because of the red fruit profile and full bodyish style. This wine like several others in the tasting represents great value.

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• 2005 Château Doisy-Védrines 92 Points

  France, Bordeaux, Sauternais, Sauternes

  Brilliant light gold in the glass. The nose offers gorgeously attractive and complex notes of Asian pear, pineapple, and honey. The palate begins with subtle botrytis bitterness and leads to pure pear sauce and flower flavors through the long finish. The fresh acidity serving as a counterpoint to the sweetness in this wine gives it wonderful overall balance and character. This is a great value and should compete well with the 2001.

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This tasting turned out to be another strong success by the staff of the Wine Exchange as well as Bordeaux in general in the 2005 vintage. All of the wines at the very least were good with several standouts and stunning values. During the tasting I got the impression that some of the wines were closed or closing down so I tried to base my ratings off the quality of the structure I could discern. Whether that is a good approach I don’t know so take from these notes what you will.

My favorite wines of the tasting were Giscours, Arômes de Pavie, Pichon Lalande, and Méjean. In my opinion the Giscours showed the most potential of all of the wines. There were several strong values notably Méjean, Epicuria de Martinat, Les Grands Marechaux, Charmail, La Dauphine, as well as both of the whites. The most impressive of the value wines for me was the Mejean which offered loads of terroir and structure.

Although the 2005s look to be closing down, I am glad to get as many data points on this vintage as I can before they do. The biggest confirmation I got from this tasting was the impressive quality of the small wines and it seems like every time I revisit this vintage the scope of quality keeps widening.