2005 Ch. Pichon-Longueville-Baron, Pauillac

Pichon-Baron's beaming winemaker Jean-Réné Matignon has once again made a sleek, sexy and hedonistic wine in 2005. With an intoxicating perfumed nose and a powerful, velvety palate of black cherries this ripe, polished, minerally wine is pure Pauillac. The 64% Cabernet Sauvignon is unsurprisingly to the fore, with the small berries bestowing great concentration and beautiful pure fruit on this wine. This is another fine performance set to confirm Pichon-Baron's position at the top of Bordeaux's echelon.

As usual, this superb Pauillac possesses an inky/blue/black color in addition to a big, sweet nose of graphite, charcoal, burning embers, black currant liqueur, and toasty vanillin from new oak casks. Full-bodied with high but sweet, well-integrated tannins, the 2005 Pichon Baron is more backward than the blockbuster 2003 or prodigious 2000. Nevertheless, it is a superb effort whose power, length, and tannic structure suggest it should be at its peak between 2015-2035.

Rich, Seductive, Spicy, exotic, masses of ripe fruits. full and rich, quite smoky, exotic, seductive, but also with tremendous power. Richness and length.
(5/5 Stars - Medoc 2005 - Decanter Award Winners - July 2008)