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This is a wine that makes you dream. The nose is packed with flowers, sweet tobacco, iodine, spices, raspberries, blackberries, and great freshness. The texture is perfection, pure silk and the fruit is wonderfully complex and subtle. Currants, fresh mushrooms, flowers, and stones fill the mouth and make way to a delightful finish. Please leave this alone until 2020.James Suckling | 100 JSThe 2005 Haut Brion is out of this world and certainly one of the finest wines I’ve ever tasted. Deeper, richer, and more concentrated than the 2000, it offers as pure an expression of this terroir as I could image with huge notes of blackcurrants, roasted herbs, scorched earth, tobacco, and earth all literally soaring from the glass. Full-bodied, powerful, concentrated, and layered, it still holds onto the hallmark elegance and purity of the estate. Wine doesn’t get any better and this tour de force can be drunk anytime over the coming three decades or more.Jeb Dunnuck | 100 JDThe mineral-laced 2005 Haut Brion (56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc) is exquisite. With its elegance and finesse, it is not as powerful as La Mission, but the nobility and complexity of the aromatics, incredible fragrance (subtle smoke and blue, red, and black fruits) that persists in the glass, full-bodied mouthfeel (though very light and delicate on its feet), and incredible length characterize this great Haut-Brion. It is just starting to drink well, and should continue to do so for at least another three decades. It is a tour de force in winemaking, but only 9,000 cases were produced.Robert Parker | 100 RPThis is incredible on the nose, showing coffee cake, blackberry, floral, coffee bean and vanilla bean, with Chinese spices. A very complex, full-bodied red, with seamless, hyperpolished tannins that caress every millimeter of the palate. Lasts for minutes. So beautifully balanced, I’m left speechless. Is it even better than the 1989? Best after 2017. 9,080 cases made.Wine Spectator | 100 WSPoured alongside an impressive lineup of 2016s, the 2005 Haut-Brion provided exquisite context to these newly released wines. While still very much in its youth, it is generously expressive and beguilingly fragrant. Initial notes of roasted coffee make way for cedar, cigar smoke, blackberry and truffles. The palate is dense with sumptuous fruit but remains graceful and fresh as waves of refined tannin build surreptitiously. On point minerally lingers endlessly on the finish. My instinct would be to hold off for a few more years though I wouldn’t blame anyone for wanting to open this now. What an absolute treat. Drinking Window 2020 - 2045Decanter | 99 DECThe 2005 Haut-Brion is a deep, meaty wine. Black cherry, game, smoke, tobacco, licorice, gravel and scorched earth saturate every corner of the palate. The 2005 is inky, creamy and voluptuous right out of the gate. It is also very young and in need of time in bottle. Most wines I tasted for this report started to lose a little steam after 24 hours, but the Haut-Brion kept getting better and better. It’s a magical wine, if a bit less accessible than most other 2005s at this stage. Tasted two times.Antonio Galloni | 99+ AGAll mineral at first, this wine feels cloistered in a stone cellar, its profound depths of red fruit more an impression than an immediate sensual connection. That direct connection forms over the course of several days, as the brilliant energy of the wine grows increasingly apparent. It has the controlled power of a tho­roughbred, naked and beautiful. The choice between Haut-Brion and La Mission is difficult in this vintage; anyone investing in one should invest in the other. This may prove the grander of the two, but that will likely be a point of debate for 50 years or more. Diageo Château & Estate Wines, NYWine & Spirits | 98 W&SA big, virile wine, dominated by dark and firm tannins. The structure comes from powerful black fruits, the wood only showing as dry edge to the tannins. It’s firm, obviously destined for long aging, with initial blackberry fruits powering through the density. A stupendous wine that will last many decades.Wine Enthusiast | 98 WE

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. Only 5,500 cases were produced of this blend of 69% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 100 RPThis is very rich and layered for La Mission with ultra-polished tannins yet velvety and beautiful in texture. It’s fully-bodied and full of character that shows plums, berries, wet earth and oyster shell flavors 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 | 99 JSStill 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 | 99 JDThe 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 favorable 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.Vinous Media | 97 VMA glorious vintage of La Mission, this young wine buzzes with energy in the mouth. All of the flavors, whether herbal, earthy or vinous, seem to refer back to the tiny pebbles of this terroir. The texture is silken, the finish exclamatory and grand. It has a racy beauty, the kind of effortless strength Nureyev’s choreography projects in Le Corsaire. One of the wines of the vintage, this has a high proportion of merlot in the blend (69 percent). It’s more accessible than Haut-Brion, but still has the stamina for long-term aging. Diageo Château & Estate Wines, NYWine & Spirits | 97 W&SDark and dense, but with such opulent fruit, this is a year when La Mission shows its softer, richer side by comparison with neighbor Haut-Brion. There is spice and exotic and generous red fruits to give with the concentration. It has great power, but it also has a velvet structure.Wine Enthusiast | 97 WEThe Indian spices and blackberry on the nose are so enticing and inspiring, leading to a full-bodied palate, with very polished tannins that caress. Goes on and on as this builds on the palate, with a mineral and berry aftertaste. For long-term aging. Best after 2015. 5,665 cases made.Wine Spectator | 97 WS

An incredible nose, so subtle with red fruits, mint, minerals, and all sorts of flowers give way to Cohiba cigar tobacco. The palate has such freshness and density, with perfectly polished tannins. Slightly leathery, like a wonderful Hermes bag. What a wine, please leave this for another ten years. Pull the cork in 2020. 10% Merlot. Find the wineJames Suckling | 100 JSA wine worthy of superlatives, the 2005 Lafite showed incredible concentration yet a superb balance. The lovely blackcurrant and plum fruit shows a fragrant floral edge, hints of oak spice, and a firm, earthy underpinning. The texture is superbly elegant, with a lovely freshness and a lilting, silky finish, yet it does not lack a tannic grip, and the finish is satisfyingly long. Near perfection. A blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon and 10% Merlot with just a drop of Petit Verdot, aged in new casks. (Drink between 2021-2040)Decanter | 99 DECThis wine is initially dense, almost thick enough to be cut with a knife. But then it becomes apparent that this is beautifully integrated and balanced, bringing together power, with the hallmark Lafite style and poise. In the end, you have a wine that promises an impressive aging potential along with delicious black currant fruits, acidity and a layer of striking tannins. Imported by Domaines Barons de Rothschild and multiple U.S. importers.Wine Enthusiast | 99 WELafite is the most elegant of the firsts in 2005; it also may be the most romantic. The wine’s heady scent of new oak rises in harmony with the succulent red fruit. Then the tannins come on with a gentle roar, layering the perception of flavors in subtle shadings. There’s not a trace of the hyperintensity that so many young 2005s wear as if required for their longevity. The stones of Lafite grow something more numinous than that, a wine with the power to strike an emotional chord through taste. This will be one of the longest lived wines of 2005. Diageo Château & Estate Wines, NYWine & Spirits | 98 W&SDelivers blackberry, dried porcini, tobacco and licorice aromas. Full-bodied, with layers of velvety tannins and loads of dark chocolate, cigar box, currant, berry and mineral. The finish is long, with a coffee, almost meaty, aftertaste. Very beautiful and balanced. Best after 2013.Wine Spectator | 98 WSThe 2005 Lafite-Rothschild is a gorgeous wine, but it is also very young. Readers lucky enough to own it will find a very classic, gracious Lafite-Rothschild that still needs a few years to be at its best. Bright red-toned fruit, crushed rocks, mint and licorice open first, followed by darker aromas and flavors that develop as the wine gains volume with air. Tasted next to its peers, Lafite is so typical of itself and less marked by the year. And that is one of the signs of a truly great terroir. Lafite-Rothschild is not as showy as many other wines in this vintage, but it is so true to its own identity, and that is the highest compliment I can pay it. The 2005 is 89% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Merlot and 1% Petit Verdot, done in 100% new oak, which is not at all noticeable. At the time, the Cabernet percentage was quite high, but that has now become the norm. Tasted two times.Antonio Galloni | 97 AGWhile the 2005 is another brilliantly classic Lafite Rothschild, for my taste, it comes in slightly behind their extraordinarily opulent 2003 as well as the dramatically powerful 2000. A blend of 89% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Merlot, the 2005 boasts a dark ruby/purple color in addition to that exceptional Lafite perfume of graphite, spring flowers, crushed rocks, and sweet black cherry and black currant fruit that exudes class and nobility. The wine is medium-bodied with extremely high levels of tannin in addition to sensational purity, length, and overall harmony. However, it is exceptionally backward, and even more tannic than either the 1995 or 1996. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2050+.Robert Parker | 96+ RP

The 2005 Latour was mind-blowingly profound in two recent tastings for this report. Deep and sensual to the core, the 2005 is utterly captivating. All the elements are so seamlessly put together. Graphite, crème de cassis, licorice, dark spice and lavender infuse the 2005 with so much energy. More than anything else, though, the 2005 is a Latour of texture and resonance. Even after several hours, the 2005 is fresh and full of energy. Wines like this are just life affirming. That’s about all I can really say. Tasted two times.Vinous Media | 100 VMHow rare to confront a wine of this inner strength and perfect form. Grown at a 116-acre vineyard at the southern border of Pauillac, some of the vines now reaching 100 years of age on a gravel bar overlooking the Gironde, Latour harvests cabernet sauvignon with natural power. I could describe it as colors, from glistening ruby to purple-black then back to scarlet tannins that vibrate in red. Or just the pure, unadulterated flavor of black currant, unformed as a child is unformed, beautiful as a child is beautiful. However I might describe it, the wine is stronger than I am and will outlast me by decades. This is the most provocative and most brilliant Latour I have tasted on release. Diageo Château & Estate Wines, NYWine & Spirits | 100 W&SA great wine, the summation of a great vintage in Bordeaux. The core of richness, the dense, bone-dry tannins, the black currants, red berries and black plum skins are the elements, but it’s the way they have been integrated that makes this such an impressive wine. There is great elegance as well, a fabulous counterpoint to such power. Cellar for at least 15 years, but this will keep forever. Imported by Diageo Chateau & Estates and multiple U.S. importers.Wine Enthusiast | 100 WEVery open and beautiful now with currants, light chocolate and spices. Incense as well. Full-bodied, tight and reserved with a fantastic center palate of fruit and firm tannins. Closed and hiding behind the structure and depth. Needs time to open still but already a joy to taste (drink!). James Suckling | 99 JSDark ruby black in color. Brilliant, intense aromas of mineral, blackberry and currant, with hints of Indian spices and cigar box, lead to a full-bodied palate, with ultrafine tannins and a beautiful balance of blackberry, raspberry and mineral. There’s subtlety, yet also great depth. Lasts for minutes on the palate. This is a Latour with fabulous tone and vigor. Best after 2018. 12,500 cases made.Wine Spectator | 99 WSA massive, powerful wine that tastes like the essence of the great estate, the 2005 Château Latour is based on 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and the balance Merlot and Petit Verdot brought up in new barrels. It reveals a saturated purple/plum color as well as a gorgeous bouquet of blackcurrants, graphite, gravelly earth, tobacco, lead pencil, and chocolate. Dense, full-bodied, and massively concentrated, it has the more austere, masculine style of the estate front and center, yet has gorgeously sweet tannin, a stacked mid-palate, and a great, great finish. This profound, regal 2005 can be drunk any time over the coming 40-50 years, and I suspect even longer.Jeb Dunnuck | 98 JD2005 was a very dry, warm and sunny vintage, causing vine stress in some areas of Bordeaux. Harvested from September 26 to October 6, the tannin/IPT levels were very high this year. The 2005 Latour is blended of 87% Cabernet Sauvignon, with the rest Merlot and Petit Verdot. It is the biggest surprise of this tasting—until now, the wine was relatively closed and broody, but today the wine is just starting to reveal its personality—and what a stunner! Medium to deep garnet-purple colored, it opens with provocative floral scents of roses and violets over a core of fresh blackcurrants, chocolate-covered cherries and black raspberries with hints of fertile loam, unsmoked cigars and black tea. Medium to full-bodied, firm, grainy and packed with muscular fruit, it has an epically long, savory finish sparked by floral notes. 12,000 cases were made.Robert Parker Wine Advocate | 98+ RPThe Latour was magnificent but is now, unfortunately, in something of a dumb phase. The aromas showed a balanced mix of red and black fruit with appropriate accents from the maturation in new casks and the trademark earthy undercurrent accented with tar and leather notes. The extract has a substantial feel, and yet the tannins remain silky. One has the sense that, like all Latour, it will age exceedingly well, but it is far from showing its full potential. The blend is 87% Cabernet Sauvignon and 13% Merlot, and picking began on 26 September. Drinking Window 2021 - 2040.Decanter | 95 DEC

Open-knit yet deep and powerful, the 2005 Les Forts de Latour is striking today. The pedigree of the vintage comes through in spades. Expressive, perfumed aromatics meld into a core of supple, open-knit fruit in a mid-weight, impeccably balanced Forts de Latour. Hints of red fruit, iron, smoke and tobacco add lovely shades of nuance. Latour’s President Frédéric Engerer adds that that 2005 was the easiest and most balanced growing season (including 2009 and 2010) he has seen because his team had the total flexibility of choosing when to harvest.Vinous Media | 94 VMShows blackberry, coffee, cedar, and raisin on the nose, turning to licorice and fresh flowers. Full-bodied, with refined, silky tannins and a long finish. Balanced and juicy. Builds on the palate, with currant, licorice and mineral character, followed by a powerful finish. An amazing second wine. Best after 2015. 13,330 cases made.Wine Spectator | 94 WSVery classy with plenty of raspberry, currant, and licorice character. This is dense and compacted on the palate. Leave it for at least two or three years from now.James Suckling | 94 JSThe 2005 Les Forts de Latour is another beautiful wine from this estate. Medium to full-bodied, with a dense ruby/purple color, loads of blackcurrant fruit, earth, and spice, the wine is extremely pure, broad, savory, and quite expensive. This is a fabulous second wine, but in essence, this is really of classified growth quality. Drink it over the next 20+ years.Robert Parker | 93 RP(Les Forts de Latour) The 2005 Forts de Latour is a superb and very classic wine in the making. I last tasted this at the château in the spring of 2013, at which time it was still seven to ten years away from really starting to blossom. The bouquet offers up a pure and very promising blend of cassis, dark berries, espresso, cigar smoke, a fine base of dark soil and a deft framing of nutty new oak. On the palate the wine is deep. full-bodied and impressively pure on the attack, with an excellent core of fruit, fine acids, ripe tannins, and superb length and grip on the still youthful finish. I would guess now that another five years or so should be sufficient for this wine to truly start to open up and drink with a modicum of generosity. It will be excellent and long-lived. (Drink between 2022-2060)John Gilman | 92 JGAlways the equivalent of many classed growths, Les Forts de Latour is hardly a second wine, deriving from a particular parcel of the Latour vineyard. This 2005 is beautifully balanced, with lively fresh acidity, dense tannins and ripe, juicy black fruits. The acidity stays right to the end.Wine Enthusiast | 92 WEIt took four days after this bottle was first opened for the wine to shed the tough, reductive character in the tannin and begin to show the plump claret this will become with time. What initially feels dark, ripe and dry-as-a-drought turns toward juicy red and black currant fruit underlined by pleasantly bitter chocolate tannin. Les Forts is produced from the young vines at Latour’s Grand Enclos (the main vineyard) from lots that do not make it into the first wine, plus selections from three other estate parcels.Wine & Spirits | 91 W&S

The nose on this seems more concentrated than the 2000, and the purity of fruit is stunning, with blueberries, raspberries, fresh flowers, and hints of licorice. This is perfect and complete. Full bodied, with notes of forest berries and wild raspberries, this is thick and velvety with perfectly polished tannins. You can really feel the density on this, more than the tannic structure. This is a sleeping beauty that will be utterly captivating when it awakes. Don’t touch this until after 2015.James Suckling | 100 JSIn two recent tastings the 2005 Château Margaux has been nothing less than magnificent. A wine of stunning perfume and inner sweetness, the 2005 gradually opens to reveal layers of red-toned fruit intermingled with floral accents. It’s as if all the classic Margaux signatures have been amped up in a huge way. Dehydration on the vine concentrated the fruit, but also the impression of tannin and acid, such that the 2005 retains huge fruit density along with plenty of brightness as well. Vibrant and beautifully layered, the 2005 Grand Vin is off the charts and easily one of the wines of the vintage. Readers who own it or can find it are in for a real treat. Tasted two times.Antonio Galloni | 99 AGThe first-growth 2005 Château Margaux (85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Merlot), a lavish fragrance of blackcurrants, velvety new saddle leather, spring flowers and spice soars from the glass. The wood is already totally concealed beneath the cascade of fruit in this medium to full-bodied, pure and majestic wine. This concentrated, dense, but nevertheless strikingly elegant, multi-layered wine has a finish of 45+ seconds. It builds incrementally to a crescendo and finale. This is a stunner that can be approached already, but promises to be better in another 5-10 years and last at least 25 or more years.Robert Parker | 98+ RP(Château Margaux, Margaux, Bordeaux, France, Red) This extraordinary wine announces its brilliance at first glance, with a bright curranty fruit aromas that expand quietly at first until one realizes the depth of concentration and flavour it possesses, with exotic spices, smoke, leather, and earth. The blend of 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot, aged in new casks, produces a silky texture, perfect balance, and enough substance to give fantastic length without any heaviness. This wine was a unanimous favourite in the flight. (Drink between 2021-2040)Decanter | 98 DECFor a Château Margaux, this is an especially rich wine. The dense fruit, superripe but not overpowering, and the blackberry jam flavors show the richness of the year. There is wood alongside the juiciness and sweet tannins. Of course, it will age, but it’s so delicious to drink now.Wine Enthusiast | 98 WEStill very tight, but there are whispers of alder, bay leaf, tobacco and singed sandalwood aromas here. They give way to a beautifully silky and refined, but extremely concentrated, core of cassis and blackberry fruit that has gained a lightly mulled hint. The long finish shows echoes of dark earth and iron that bring you back for more. A beauty, with a long way to go.—Blind ’01/’03/’05 Bordeaux retrospective (December 2017). Best from 2025 through 2045. 10,833 cases made.Wine Spectator | 97 WSAn extravagantly ripe vintage of Margaux, this has the first-growth scent of a wine at home in its new oak. The texture is succulent and generous, the aromas bright with floral tones and sweet fruit, a taste of fresh strawberries and blackberries macerated in liqueur. This is a beautiful wine, and it may reveal more of its structural power with time. Diageo Château & Estate Wines, NYWine & Spirits | 94 W&S

This is pure pleasure, with tiny pulses of electricity, brushed leather, sulphur, loam, truffle, blackberry, black cherry, with touches of silky tannins, smoked caramel and black chocolate. A wine that makes you smile, so much depth and power, barely out of its primary phase, but we are starting now to get the whole picture of what it will become. There is a lush edge to the tannins now that was not the case even two years ago. Such a different expression from the 2009 and 2010 Mouton, with this a little more old school in its charms, and for me you can now project yourself foraward, more like the 1986, a little dry and strict at first, but finessed and gorgeous, delivering grip, punch and magic. Eric Tourbier and Philippe Dhalluin on the technical team. 63% first wine, extremely low for the time (lowest since 1975, whereas today they are regularly below 50%). If you are going to open this anytime soon, think of it as a bottle to enjoy very slowly over four or five hours seeing the nuances develop. 100% new oak.Jane Anson | 100 JAThe 2005 Mouton-Rothschild has developed magnificently, and is even better than I remember. The final blend was 85% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Merlot and 1% Cabernet Franc. Stunning notes of crème de cassis, melted asphalt, roasted espresso and cedarwood are present in this young, full-bodied, powerful, concentrated Mouton. Just beginning to enter its adolescence, it should hit full maturity in 10-15 years and last for 50 or more. The greatness of this vintage is increasingly apparent as the wines throw off their cloaks of tannin.Robert Parker | 99+ RPThis accelerates on the palate with incredibly ripe tannins and finesse. Full body, roasted fruit, leather and grilled meat. Dried flowers, too. It shows superb tannin backbone and polish. Tight and youthful. Just starting to open. Currant and berry undertones with lead pencil are impressive. Better in 2018 but so delicious now.James Suckling | 98 JSOne of the real highlights on the Left Bank, the 2005 Mouton Rothschild is a dark, potent Pauillac. Black cherry, plum, chocolate, spice and leather all take shape in the glass. The 2005 is a dense, powerful and explosive wine endowed with tremendous energy and pure power. The fruit is just starting to emerge, but Mouton remains a very tight, super-classic wine. With time in the glass, some of the natural richness and radiance of the year starts to emerge. Even so, the 2005 is still very young and closed. A few more years in bottle will only be beneficial. Impressive. Tasted two times.Antonio Galloni | 98 AG(Château Mouton Rothschild, Pauillac, Bordeaux, France, Red) Mouton was voluptuous and immediately appealing, with spicy ripe cassis and plum fruit that poured from the glass, surrounded by liquorice, coconut, and toasted cedar. The texture was not abrasive but very full-bodied and round. The tannins initially appeared fine-grained and silky, but with a bit of time, one realised the immense structure of this wine. Impressively concentrated and very long on the finish, this is still youthful and should age for decades to come. The blend is 85% Cabernet Sauvignon with 14% Merlot, with a touch of Cabernet Franc. The picking for the grand vin started on 21 September for the Merlot and finished with the Cabernets on 3 October. (Drink between 2021-2040)Decanter | 98 DECGorgeous, with singed alder and juniper notes starting to strut their stuff, while the immense core of steeped red currant, blackberry and plum fruit continues to wait in reserve. A light sanguine thread weaves in on the back end, which is driven by a serious bolt of iron. Shows terrific grip, length and cut. A brick-house Pauillac built for the long haul.--Non-blind Mouton-Rothschild vertical (March 2017). Best from 2020 through 2050.Wine Spectator | 98 WSIf 2005 was a rich year, Mouton reaches the heights of richness. Almost too rich, too New World, but you have to be impressed by the aromatic intensity of the black fruits, the dense, firm tannins, and the superripe black juice and licorice flavors. The wood is still too overpowering and needs time to settle in.Wine Enthusiast | 95 WE