2005 Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

2005 Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

Product: 20058008990
Prices start from £7,526.00 per imperial (600cl). Buying options
2005 Château La Mission Haut-Brion, Pessac-Léognan, Bordeaux

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Description

Only 5,500 cases of this classic were made in 2005.

This is quite wonderful. A spectacular nose of minerals, spices and crushed blackberries, is the perfect entrée for the elegant creamy black fruit on the palate marked by incredible purity and elegance. Perfectly integrated tannins provide hidden power beneath the intense, seductive character. This is more approachable at this stage than any La Mission we've tasted and experience suggests that it will fill out significantly, taking on even more body and substance, in the years to come.

Berry Bros. & Rudd

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Critics reviews

Neal Martin, Vinous97/100

The 2005 La Mission Haut-Brion is a wine that I have had the pleasure of tasting on several occasions. The most recent bottle, included in a 2005 horizontal, puts it in a very favourable light even against strong competition. The bouquet bursts from the glass with intense blackberry, cedar and tobacco scents, plus background aromas of fig and damson, as you would expect from a warm summer. 

The palate is structured, yet the Merlot content (at 69%, the highest in many years) renders this Pessac-Léognan much more pliant than others from this vintage. A mélange of red and black fruits vie for attention, followed by warm gravel and black olives. Quite rich and yet not grippy; with decanting, you could broach this now, though personally, I would prefer to leave it for several more years. Outstanding.

Drink 2025 - 2060

Neal Martin, Vinous.com (September 2021)

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Antonio Galloni, Vinous100/100

Tasted two times.

The 2005 La Mission Haut-Brion is unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage. Effusive aromatics and bright, red-toned fruit make a strong first impression. A wine of vertical intensity and explosive energy, the 2005 is a towering masterpiece. Today it is just at the beginning of a long drinking window that will last another few decades. Red cherry, plum, leather, spice, gravel, smoke, blood orange and pomegranate infuse the palate-staining finish. In 2005, La Mission is a wine that satisfies all the senses, from the intellectual to the hedonistic. Magnificent. 

Drink 2021 - 2055

Antonio Galloni, Vinous.com (April 2021)

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Jane Anson98/100

100% new oak. Hold +2 years or carafe for 4 hours.

A little more approachable than the Haut-Brion at this moment in time, but still at the very beginning of its drinking life, with decades ahead of it. Expect your senses to be drenched in pulses of electricity running through the palate, studding the waves of loganberry, blackberry and red cherry fruits. Feels carefully delineated and in balance, luscious and sculpted, with peony floral notes as it opens up. A classic Mission Haut-Brion, exceptionally impressive.

Drink 2022 - 2055

Jane Anson, JaneAnson.com (June 2022)

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Jancis Robinson MW18/20

Deep classic shaded crimson. A high-toned mineral nose that should really satisfy traditionalists. A savoury yeast extract/Marmite edge. Very directed and focused and Cabernet on the palate – almost the essence of Cabernet. Marked acidity and tannin. Utterly classic – not an ounce of spare flesh. Everything is there for a fine, long future.

Drink 2020 - 2045

Jancis Robinson MW, JancisRobinson.com (February 2015)

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Wine Advocate100/100

Only 5,500 cases were produced of this blend of 69% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc.

The 2005 La Mission Haut-Brion is pure perfection. It has an absolutely extraordinary nose of sweet blackberries, cassis and spring flowers with some underlying minerality, a full-bodied mouthfeel, gorgeously velvety tannins (which is unusual in this vintage) and a long, textured, multi-layered finish that must last 50+ seconds. This is a fabulous wine and a great effort from this hallowed terroir. Drink this modern-day legend over the next 30+ years.

Drink 2015 - 2045

Robert M. Parker, Jr., Wine Advocate (June 2015)

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James Suckling99/100

This is very rich and layered for La Mission with ultra-polished tannins yet velvety and beautiful in texture. It's full-bodied and full of character that shows plums, berries, wet earth and oyster shell flavours that are so unique to reds from this estate. Superb quality. 

Better to drink this in 2020 but try now to feel the greatness.

James Suckling, JamesSuckling.com (November 2015)

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Jeb Dunnuck99/100

Still inky-hued, the blockbuster-styled 2005 Château La Mission Haut Brion is based on a blend of 69% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and the rest Cabernet Franc. A huge monster of a wine that's still 4-5 years out from its drink window, it gives up massive amounts of ripe, smoky black fruits, truffles, chocolate, graphite, and roasted meats. This carries to a full-bodied Pessac-Léognan offering a dense, concentrated mid-palate, lots of tannins, wonderful purity, and one heck of a magical finish.

Jeb Dunnuck, JebDunnuck.com (April 2021)

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About this WINE

Chateau la Mission Haut-Brion

Chateau la Mission Haut-Brion

Château La Mission-Haut-Brion is the greatest Graves wine after Haut-Brion and in some vintages is considered the superior wine of the two. La Mission-Haut-Brion is situated just across the road from Haut-Brion in the commune of Talence in the southern suburbs of Bordeaux. Since 1983, both properties have been under the same ownership, Domaine Clarence Dillon S.A.

La Mission-Haut-Brion's vineyards (Cabernet Sauvignon 48%, Merlot 45%, Cabernet Franc 7%) lie on a large (up to 18 metres deep in places) gravel bank interspersed with clay. The wine is fermented in temperature-controlled, stainless steel vats and then matured in oak barriques (100% new) for 18 months. The wines of La Mission Haut Brion are rich, oaky and powerful and need at least 10 years of bottle ageing before they should be broached.

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Pessac-Leognan

Pessac-Leognan

In 1986 a new communal district was created within Graves, in Bordeaux,  based on the districts of Pessac and Léognan, the first of which lies within the suburbs of the city. Essentially this came about through pressure from Pessac-Léognan vignerons, who wished to disassociate themselves from growers with predominately sandy soils further south in Graves.

Pessac-Léognan has the best soils of the region, very similar to those of the Médoc, although the depth of gravel is more variable, and contains all the classed growths of the region. Some of its great names, including Ch. Haut-Brion, even sit serenely and resolutely in Bordeaux's southern urban sprawl.

The climate is milder than to the north of the city and the harvest can occur up to two weeks earlier. This gives the best wines a heady, rich and almost savoury character, laced with notes of tobacco, spice and leather. Further south, the soil is sandier with more clay, and the wines are lighter, fruity and suitable for earlier drinking.

Recommended Châteaux: Ch. Haut-Brion, Ch. la Mission Haut-Brion, Ch. Pape Clément, Ch Haut-Bailly, Domaine de Chevalier, Ch. Larrivet-Haut-Brion, Ch. Carmes Haut-Brion, Ch. La Garde, Villa Bel-Air.

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Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon Blend

Cabernet Sauvignon lends itself particularly well in blends with Merlot. This is actually the archetypal Bordeaux blend, though in different proportions in the sub-regions and sometimes topped up with Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot.

In the Médoc and Graves the percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend can range from 95% (Mouton-Rothschild) to as low as 40%. It is particularly suited to the dry, warm, free- draining, gravel-rich soils and is responsible for the redolent cassis characteristics as well as the depth of colour, tannic structure and pronounced acidity of Médoc wines. However 100% Cabernet Sauvignon wines can be slightly hollow-tasting in the middle palate and Merlot with its generous, fleshy fruit flavours acts as a perfect foil by filling in this cavity.

In St-Emilion and Pomerol, the blends are Merlot dominated as Cabernet Sauvignon can struggle to ripen there - when it is included, it adds structure and body to the wine. Sassicaia is the most famous Bordeaux blend in Italy and has spawned many imitations, whereby the blend is now firmly established in the New World and particularly in California and  Australia.

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