Bordeaux 2005 - Our Recommendations

ALUN GRIFFITHS MW WINE DIRECTOR

Best Value wine:
Ch. Gruaud Larose
With amazing purity of fruit, this is a superbly harmonious and balanced wine of great finesse.

Cellar Must-Have:
Ch. Lynch Bages
Dense, concentrated and multi-dimensional, yet quintessentially Pauillac.

Wine of the Vintage:
Ch. Margaux
Words can scarcely do it justice, a totally complete wine in every sense. Marginally ahead of Ch. Ausone, Vieux Ch. Certan and Ch. Latour in my opinion.

 

SIMON STAPLES, SALES DIRECTOR

Best Value wine:
Ch. Haut-Bages Averous
Ch. du Tertre
Clos du Marquis
Incredible wines, incredible value.

Cellar Must-Have:
Ch. Haut-Bailly
Ch. Lynch Bages
Ch. Calon-Ségur
Ch. la Conseillante
Sorry, I must have all of these in my cellar. 2005 is just too good to be able to hone in on only one or two wines.

Wine of the Vintage:
Ch. Margaux
This is the greatest wine I have ever tasted en primeur. Châteaux Latour, Ausone, and Lafite were just a fraction behind. Viva 2005!

 

OLIVER EAST - FINE WINE ADVISOR

Best Value wine:
Ch. du Tertre
Vibrant, seductive and utterly charming.

Cellar Must-Have:
Ch. Lynch Bages
This is multi-layered and extraordinary. A sensational Lynch Bages.

Wine of the Vintage:
Ch. Latour
Ch. Margaux
Ch. Haut-Brion
It's just too hard to pick this year. All these wines have so much class!

 

TOM CAVE- CELLAR PLAN MANAGER

Best Value wine:
Ch. Haut-Bages Libéral
Ch. Batailley
Ch. Moulin St Georges
Ch. Haut-Bages Libéral represents classic Pauillac character at a reasonable price. Ch. Batailley, a perennial favourite, just gets better and better. St Emilion provides a complete range of wines these days, but Ch. Moulin St Georges remains a good value and more conventional-styled wine than many.

Cellar Must-Have:

Ch. Grand-Puy-Lacoste

Ch. Pontet-Canet
Ch. Brane-Cantenac
Grand-Puy-Lacoste is on great form, as François-Xavier Borie's beaming smile showed when we tasted his wine. Another must-have was the equally profound but more polished Ch. Pontet-Canet.2005 also suited very well the elegant character of Ch. Brane-Cantenac which was full of Margaux grace.

Wine of the Vintage:
Ch. Haut-Brion
This wine needed a real effort of concentration when tasted in April from cask, but all the best ingredients are there, even if well-hidden; this will prove to be a great wine.

 

JASPER MORRIS M.W., BUYING DIRECTOR

Best Value wine:
Ch. Ormes de Pez
All the Jean-Michel Cazes wines are brilliant this year and this one should be at a great price.

Cellar Must-Have:
Ch. Pontet-Canet
I cannot see how Alfred Tesseron could have made a better wine than this - ten years hard work has really paid off.

Wine of the Vintage:
Ch. Ausone
20 out of 20 for this wine - it narrowly beats the Médoc 20 pointers. Maybe even 20.

 

NICK PEGNA - HONG KONG MANAGING DIRECTOR

Best Value wine:
Ch. Moulin St Georges
Most people can't go for Ausone as there is such a tiny quantity. Moulin St Georges is an Ausone in miniature, with superb purity of fruit as well as wonderful opulence.

Cellar Must-Have:
Ch. Pontet-Canet
An outstanding wine in its own right. When price is added to the equation, it is a wine not to be missed. A classic, with superb fruit and seamless fine-grained tannins.

Wine of the Vintage:
Ch. Margaux
…for its sheer presence and rather atypical power. It is not an in-your-face style, but rather creeps up slowly and blossoms in the mouth. We had distinct notes of coffee and mocha in the empty glass a full twelve minutes after tasting.