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.

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)

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.
(Robert Parker - Wine Advocate - 01-Apr-2008)