Cellared since release, perfect cork and fill. Pop and pour, sampled over 4 hours.
This has gone from “feh” a couple of years ago to “yuck” today. Plenty of fruit, tannin, and acid, lots of extraction. The best thing I can say about it is that there’s enough acid to keep it from being flabby. Overripe, raisiny, objectionable levels of volatile acidity. It would be better if the finish was shorter. It’s just getting gloopier with age. A paean to prodigious Parkerization. Poor. One more bottle left to suffer through. Or give away? It appears that there are people who like this.
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Disappointed in this wine. First one from a case, hopefully an aberration. Decanted for an hour, boring and completely closed in the glass. Perhaps a longer decant will improve subsequent bottles.
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Cellared since release, perfect cork and fill. Not much change since the last bottle 6 months ago. Dark red core, minimal lightening at rim. Plum, raisin, smoke, a hint of VA. Full body, ripe/over-ripe, huge extraction, adequate balancing acidity - not flabby but not focused either, moderate tannins, medium-long finish. Some may love the hugeness and ripeness but my palate has shifted away from this style. Maybe good, but I didn’t go back for a second glass.
After a night in the fridge, the remainder was showing alcoholic heat, a burnt character, and raisins. Not good, and down the drain with the rest of it. Feh.
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Cellared since release, perfect cork and fill. Dark red core, a little lightening at rim. Plum, raisin, smoke, a hint of VA. Full body, ripe/over-ripe, huge extraction, adequate balancing acidity - not flabby, moderate tannins that intrude a bit on the medium-long finish. Some may love the hugeness and ripeness but my palate has shifted away from this style. A little calmer on day two. Good-very good.
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Powerful nose and flavor. I know it is a 05, but still very forward at this time. Lots of dark fruit and Asian spice. Delicious wine, I would be interested to try a mature one.
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Bellevue Mondotte 2005 or what you should not do with your precious plot in the world‘s best wine region. Too much extraction, no precision and especially harsh, drying tannins. 4 hours in the decanter and 3 hours in the glass helped a bit but could not turn it around. In my opinion, this is nothing you can solve by further cellaring. Far too mich extraction, all overripe and I fear that these tannins will never be right. I advise to sell all the bottles you have (you‘ll get a great price and an even better reward).
Inky in color, the wine is full bodied, intense, dense and concentrated with multiple layers of ripe, sweet, black fruits, crushed rocks, licorice, smoke and espresso. Still young, the texture really grabs you in the lingering finish.
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Bordeaux dinner at Ripple with live rendition of the Star Spangled Banner (Ripple Restaurant in DC): Between chatting with Marla Maples and listening to her friend singing one of the best rendition of our national anthem, Alan decide to open his back up bottle. Still quite primary and intense, black cherry, cola, milk chocolate toasted oak/vanilla, liquid smoke and earth. Incredible concentration, beautifully layered, unctuous, sweet tannins and a long finish. Still showing oak and a bit monolithic. It will be interesting to observe how this develops. Marls mentions she typically doesn’t like red wine but loves this. This will be a very divisive wine.
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Fit for a wine loving Groundhog: Bordeaux back to 1970, by way of a 1982 trio (Ripple Restaurant in Washington D.C.): Sorry, but here a case of a wine now over 10 years old and still delivering an over extracted aspect that cloys. Is it the wood tannin that remains unresolved? I just do not understand the high point scores, sorry! Interestingly enough, Donald Trump's ex-wife Marla Maples, was seated at a table next to us. Kevin generously poured them some Yquem 1990, which they seemed to like enough. But then he poured this wine and Marla was gaga over it. So, hey, it has its punters.
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N - prune & chocolate. Reminiscent of amarone M - satin texture but overall slightly surripe and tired (though less than the '03).This is good but given the hype overall I find it disappointing. Drink up I don't see it getting better.
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66x Parker 100-Pointers from Bordeaux 1947-2010 tasted blind (Switzerland): Tasted blind. Dark purple. Oxidative nose with alcoholic heat, we are off to a bad start before even having sipped on this. Am I in Rioja land here? Full bodied palate with lots of tannins and a very dry finish. WTF, no way this is a triple digit wine, not even in the 90ies from the showing of this bottle. Given the fact that the 2009 was the same style and just as bad does not give me much hope that this was an off bottle. This was the worst (!!) wine over the two evenings since one bottle was corked and therefore not rated. Group score: 15.20, group rank: 63/64
Drank from a magnum, so perhaps not as evolved as others found it. This is a fairly big, somewhat brooding wine for St Emilion. It has the stuff to go another 25 years. We have found other 2005 more ready for drinking than this, which provided very ample evidence of the excellence of the vintage and the vineyard. If you have enough, drinking now is ok, but I'm going to wait another two to three years at least.
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Explosive aromatics of truffle, crushed stone, wet earth and ripe fruits open to an intense mineral driven, powerful, concentrated wine that remains on your palate for close to 50 seconds! This is intense, long, expansive and pure, but so very young. It will be better in 10, 20, or 30 years!
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Inky and opaque in color. Minerals paired with licorice and sweet, ripe dark berries offer an intense perfume. Full bodied, concentrated and intense, the long finish ended with an ocean of velvet laced black cherries that seems to last forever.
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2005 Bordeaux en Primeur; 3/26/2006-3/28/2006 (Bordeaux France): En Primeur tasting. 90% Merlot with 5% each Cab Sauv and Cab Franc. Massive fruit, eye-popping tannins. So much of everything, but so far from being integrated. I could be convinced this will be a great wine, or convinced this will never perfectly harmonize.
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12/11/2023 - dbg wrote:
Cellared since release, perfect cork and fill. Pop and pour, sampled over 4 hours.
This has gone from “feh” a couple of years ago to “yuck” today. Plenty of fruit, tannin, and acid, lots of extraction. The best thing I can say about it is that there’s enough acid to keep it from being flabby. Overripe, raisiny, objectionable levels of volatile acidity. It would be better if the finish was shorter. It’s just getting gloopier with age. A paean to prodigious Parkerization. Poor. One more bottle left to suffer through. Or give away? It appears that there are people who like this.
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8/3/2021 - Acalder9 wrote: 83 Points
Disappointed in this wine. First one from a case, hopefully an aberration. Decanted for an hour, boring and completely closed in the glass. Perhaps a longer decant will improve subsequent bottles.
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7/22/2021 - paujokal Likes this wine: 96 Points
Leather. Blueberry. Shot of vanilla. Still drinking wonderfully.
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6/27/2021 - dbg wrote:
Cellared since release, perfect cork and fill. Not much change since the last bottle 6 months ago. Dark red core, minimal lightening at rim. Plum, raisin, smoke, a hint of VA. Full body, ripe/over-ripe, huge extraction, adequate balancing acidity - not flabby but not focused either, moderate tannins, medium-long finish. Some may love the hugeness and ripeness but my palate has shifted away from this style. Maybe good, but I didn’t go back for a second glass.
After a night in the fridge, the remainder was showing alcoholic heat, a burnt character, and raisins. Not good, and down the drain with the rest of it. Feh.
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5/23/2021 - RichelieuDennis1 wrote:
Aerated for 3 minutes and it is delicious
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4/5/2021 - paujokal Likes this wine: 94 Points
Gorgeous wine. Short decant. Lots of sediment.
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1/10/2021 - dbg wrote:
Cellared since release, perfect cork and fill. Dark red core, a little lightening at rim. Plum, raisin, smoke, a hint of VA. Full body, ripe/over-ripe, huge extraction, adequate balancing acidity - not flabby, moderate tannins that intrude a bit on the medium-long finish. Some may love the hugeness and ripeness but my palate has shifted away from this style. A little calmer on day two. Good-very good.
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10/14/2018 - RickyT12 Likes this wine: 94 Points
Powerful nose and flavor. I know it is a 05, but still very forward at this time. Lots of dark fruit and Asian spice. Delicious wine, I would be interested to try a mature one.
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4/1/2018 - Cailles wrote: 84 Points
Bellevue Mondotte 2005 or what you should not do with your precious plot in the world‘s best wine region. Too much extraction, no precision and especially harsh, drying tannins. 4 hours in the decanter and 3 hours in the glass helped a bit but could not turn it around. In my opinion, this is nothing you can solve by further cellaring. Far too mich extraction, all overripe and I fear that these tannins will never be right. I advise to sell all the bottles you have (you‘ll get a great price and an even better reward).
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2/4/2017 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
Inky in color, the wine is full bodied, intense, dense and concentrated with multiple layers of ripe, sweet, black fruits, crushed rocks, licorice, smoke and espresso. Still young, the texture really grabs you in the lingering finish.
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2/2/2017 - dcwino wrote: 96 Points
Bordeaux dinner at Ripple with live rendition of the Star Spangled Banner (Ripple Restaurant in DC): Between chatting with Marla Maples and listening to her friend singing one of the best rendition of our national anthem, Alan decide to open his back up bottle. Still quite primary and intense, black cherry, cola, milk chocolate toasted oak/vanilla, liquid smoke and earth. Incredible concentration, beautifully layered, unctuous, sweet tannins and a long finish. Still showing oak and a bit monolithic. It will be interesting to observe how this develops. Marls mentions she typically doesn’t like red wine but loves this. This will be a very divisive wine.
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2/2/2017 - PanosKakaviatos Does not like this wine:
Fit for a wine loving Groundhog: Bordeaux back to 1970, by way of a 1982 trio (Ripple Restaurant in Washington D.C.): Sorry, but here a case of a wine now over 10 years old and still delivering an over extracted aspect that cloys. Is it the wood tannin that remains unresolved? I just do not understand the high point scores, sorry! Interestingly enough, Donald Trump's ex-wife Marla Maples, was seated at a table next to us. Kevin generously poured them some Yquem 1990, which they seemed to like enough. But then he poured this wine and Marla was gaga over it. So, hey, it has its punters.
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1/28/2017 - soyhead wrote:
N - prune & chocolate. Reminiscent of amarone
M - satin texture but overall slightly surripe and tired (though less than the '03).This is good but given the hype overall I find it disappointing. Drink up I don't see it getting better.
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9/16/2016 - Collector1855 wrote: 87 Points
66x Parker 100-Pointers from Bordeaux 1947-2010 tasted blind (Switzerland): Tasted blind. Dark purple. Oxidative nose with alcoholic heat, we are off to a bad start before even having sipped on this. Am I in Rioja land here? Full bodied palate with lots of tannins and a very dry finish. WTF, no way this is a triple digit wine, not even in the 90ies from the showing of this bottle. Given the fact that the 2009 was the same style and just as bad does not give me much hope that this was an off bottle. This was the worst (!!) wine over the two evenings since one bottle was corked and therefore not rated. Group score: 15.20, group rank: 63/64
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6/26/2016 - capacious Likes this wine: 94 Points
Drank from a magnum, so perhaps not as evolved as others found it. This is a fairly big, somewhat brooding wine for St Emilion. It has the stuff to go another 25 years. We have found other 2005 more ready for drinking than this, which provided very ample evidence of the excellence of the vintage and the vineyard. If you have enough, drinking now is ok, but I'm going to wait another two to three years at least.
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8/28/2015 - petitblanc wrote: flawed
Madison Offline 2015; 8/27/2015-8/29/2015: Ugh, this bottle is completely muted, dead, cooked. Sorry José.
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5/18/2013 - Jeff Leve wrote: 98 Points
Explosive aromatics of truffle, crushed stone, wet earth and ripe fruits open to an intense mineral driven, powerful, concentrated wine that remains on your palate for close to 50 seconds! This is intense, long, expansive and pure, but so very young. It will be better in 10, 20, or 30 years!
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7/21/2008 - Jeff Leve wrote: 97 Points
Inky and opaque in color. Minerals paired with licorice and sweet, ripe dark berries offer an intense perfume. Full bodied, concentrated and intense, the long finish ended with an ocean of velvet laced black cherries that seems to last forever.
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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. 90% Merlot with 5% each Cab Sauv and Cab Franc. Massive fruit, eye-popping tannins. So much of everything, but so far from being integrated. I could be convinced this will be a great wine, or convinced this will never perfectly harmonize.
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