Wednesday Wines – Episode 285 – Berry Bros & Rudd Extraordinary 2005 Bordeaux Tasting
Berry Bros. & Rudd
www.bbr.com
(t) 0800 280 2440
BBR recently hosted an extraordinary, top-flight 2005 Bordeaux tasting, and it was made even more exciting by learning that every wine is in stock and ready for delivery!
I have listed the wines order of my scores, and within each score bracket in price per bottle order, from most expensive to least. My asterisked wines (*) are those that offer the finest score-to-price ratio.
Château Latour, 1er Cru, Pauillac £604, 19.5+/20
The nose here is sensational, with much more complexity and detail than the other wines. I went back to check on Latour at the end of the tasting, and it was indeed my winner. It seems both more welcoming and more complete on the nose, and the palate follows suit with a thrilling texture, amazing delicacy and epic, mouth-watering tannins.
Château Lafite Rothschild, 1er Cru, Pauillac £604, 19+/20
So refined and silky, with a more cherry-red theme than many of the other darker wines, this is a beautifully textured wine featuring silky tannins and perfect equilibrium already. Classy, à point and with another decade and more ahead, this is a super-elegant Lafite, and it shows terrific style already.
Château Margaux, 1er Cru, Margaux £604, 19++/20
This is a power-packed Margaux, with lashings of oak and extract, and this makes it somewhat shocking as it loads tannin on the finish and brings an active sense of youthfulness and traction to the fore. There is so much more to come here, as this wine is only halfway through its life. It is extremely impressive, but it demands patience.
Château Mouton Rothschild, 1er Cru, Pauillac £484, 19+/20
With more tension and active tannins, this is a tense, majestic Mouton, and it appears fresh and floral, with hints of herbs and stem over a refined, long chassis. Still slightly closed and reluctant at present, there is a lot more to come here.
*Château La Conseillante, Pomerol £276, 19+/20
The nose swarms the senses with brocaded, plush, all-pervasive Merlot, and the palate is bright, accurate and balanced. The oak is integrated, and the tannins are fresh and cleansing. This looks superb, and it will continue to evolve like clockwork! I love this style, build quality and energy.
*Château Léoville Las Cases, 2ème Cru, Saint-Julien £202, 19+/20
This is wonderfully complex, yet not too hectic or too deep, remaining on the medium-weight side of the spectrum. The tannins are sensational, and it still looks actively youthful. In terms of grandeur and potential, this is a superstar, and the price looks compelling!
*Château Figeac, Premier Grand Cru Classé A, Saint-Emilion £202, 19/20
With a remarkably stunning nose and a lovely lift on the front of the palate, this is a delicious, suave wine with perfectly balanced tannins. It is drinking well now, with enough tension to hold. This is the most ‘delicious’ wine for uncorking tonight!
Château Cheval Blanc, Saint-Emilion £810, 18.5+/20
Very perfumed and rich, and then the palate swings, and the oak takes over. The finish is nowhere near as pleasant as it could be, as the tannins crash in and upset the good work done on the nose! Will it find true balance? Perhaps. Will it always catch the eye? Undoubtedly, but I cannot reconcile the price.
Château Haut-Brion, 1er Cru, Pessac-Léognan £634, 18.5+/20
The nose is potent, attacking, fairly oaky, and closed, and the fruit is grainy, tense and introverted! All the elements are here, but there is undoubtedly a need for patience and composure! Perhaps it could do with more refinement at this stage. Let’s see, but this might be a bit of a gamble, given the price tag.
Château Palmer, 3ème Cru, Margaux £303, 18.5+/20
A slight sense of foresty/mushroomy notes that come in on the perfume, and these thankfully are absent on the palate. Mintiness and some herbal details overlay a velvety, plummy flavour, and the finish seems spicy, oaky and unresolved. Like Margaux, this is another wine that has a long way to go!
*Cos d’Estournel, 2ème Cru, Saint-Estèphe £169, 18.5/20
Much darker and savoury, with a fruit-packed core and stunning blackcurrant theme. Unlike Montrose, this is a buoyant and open wine with masses of energy, and while it is drinking, there is lovely tension on the finish. This is an expressive number, so if you are seeking restraint, look elsewhere.
*Château Pichon Baron, 2ème Cru, Pauillac £154, 18.5+/20
The cassis notes on the nose are pure Baron, and the mid-palate is sleek, toned and dynamic. The finish is where the main action is found with feisty, drying tannins and bright acidity. This will roll for a further 5-10 with ease! The value looks terrific here.
*Château Pontet-Canet, 5ème Cru, Pauillac £109 18.5+/20
Amazingly floral and detailed with hints of liquorice and spice over a lusty Cabernet and Merlot framework, this is an indulgent wine with a juicy mid-palate and a very long, fine-grained finish. There is still plenty of tannin here to drive this forward, and it will undoubtedly gather complexity as it goes. It looks like a bargain in the greater scheme of things!
*Château Léoville Poyferré, 2ème Cru, Saint-Julien £108 & £224 magnum, 18.5+/20
The Poyferré gloss is here, with a velvety core and plush palate. This is not as long as some, as the tannins clip the finish, but at 20 years old, it is tracking well, and the calibre of the raw materials is clear to see. This is a lot of wine for one hundred quid!
Château Angélus, Saint-Emilion £454, 18+/20
A little too wild and oaky for me, and the tannins are awkward and a little too spicy. This is an urgent and showy wine, and I doubt it will find true balance over time.
Château Lynch-Bages, 5ème Cru, Pauillac £144, 18+/20
Typically robust, with oak leading the way, this is a more astringent style featuring a tannic feel, derived from both fruit and oak. It lacks the detail of all the preceding wines. While the oak needs time to assimilate, and the fruit will certainly mellow, I feel it will not gather the complexity needed for it to hit the high notes.
Château Léoville Barton, 2ème Cru, Saint-Julien £114, 18+/20
Meaty, spicy, dense and briary, this is not as polished or as elegant as the Poyferré, but it shows boisterous notes, structured tannins and some unresolved elements that will arm it for the future. There is a decade or more ahead of this wine.
*Château Haut-Bailly, Pessac-Léognan £103, 18/20
This is a wonderfully complex wine with a complete nose and a balanced, refreshing finish. The tannins are a little too savoury for the flesh on the mid-palate, so it will need another five+ years to shed the dryness. Will it have enough fruit to make it? I think so, and I would be prepared to bet £103 on it!
*Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, 5ème Cru, Pauillac £94 & £193 magnum, 18/20
This is a benchmark GPL. You can always rely on this estate to nail it, with civil tones and unwavering accuracy. Smooth, calm, rewarding and drinking well, there is enough acidity and tannin to hold it upright, now that it is at the peak of its powers. A magnum looks to be the steal in this company!
Les Forts de Latour (Second wine of Château Latour) £159, 17.5/20
Echoes of the Grand Vin are evident here, and while the nose is a little clipped, the palate is less cosmic, and the finish is shorter, there is a lot of class here, and the hints of rusticity suit this style, so it earns a high silver score.
Château Montrose, 2ème Cru Saint-Estèphe £152, 17.5/20
Densely mineral and focused with a stern perfume. By contrast, the palate is open, even and discreetly savoury. It is showing its age, and there is no trace of bright fruit left, as the palate has moved into the cigar and leather stage. Civilised and peaking, this is a prime example of an old-school, drinking Montrose. In this regard, it is outclassed in this company.
Château Gruaud Larose, 2ème Cru Saint-Julien £92 & £205 magnum, 17?/20
Simpler and more open than many, yet still a little raw and unfinished, this is a slightly clumsy wine that is unlikely to find equilibrium.
Château Batailley, 5ème Cru, Pauillac £64, 16/20
Always a little meatier and gravy-like, this is a solid, slightly over-ripe wine with an oddly resinous oak tone. Not for me.
Château Giscours, 3ème Cru, Margaux £87, No score recorded
This is too sweet-fruited and clumsy, and the finish is boggy, grubby and disjointed. This is most likely a slightly sub-standard bottle, but the wine is certainly too faded to be of interest. NB – Alexander Van Beek, Directeur Général Château Giscours, has been in touch, reinforcing my thoughts above. He is convinced this was a ‘bad bottle’ and I am delighted to hear this. I look forward to tasting a clean bottle in due course and will adjust this note according when I do.
Scores – As a wine taster and writer, I prefer you to read my notes rather than focus on my scores. I believe that scores taken from the context of tasting notes are essentially meaningless. You will be aware that several different scoring methods are employed in the global wine trade. Most of my wine-writing colleagues have been tempted to the dark side, using the 100-point rating system. A few, usually older types, cling to the venerable five-star rating. As you know, I favour the 20-point score. It’s how I was taught and dovetails nicely with how I judge wines. For those unfamiliar with the 20-point scoring system, a table is provided below that translates it into various other formats. If a score has no ‘+’, this indicates a wine that is in balance and can be drunk relatively young, thanks to its precocity and charm. One ‘+’ indicates a wine that will benefit from medium-term ageing (following the style of the wine), while two ‘++’ suggests a wine that should manage to make the long haul, softening and evolving as it goes. A ‘?’ means that I am unsure about an element within the wine – this will be explained in my note.
