There has been a big tasting by the great and the good of the wine trade of the stellar 2005 vintage and the headline news is excellent. It still remains on course to deliver what we all speculated at the time of the release. One point yet again emphasized is the breadth of the vintage remains universal, across all appellations and all price levels. It is worth remembering that there is excellent value in what many regard as ‘lesser’ properties.

 

Prices of 2005’s have retreated from the somewhat overdone levels the top wines reached in the first half of last year, but we still believe the second tier offer good value. For the 1^st Growths and Super Seconds, we believe there will be another opportunity to buy, but there is no rush. We suspect there will be keen sellers later in the year. For those who look at their cellars and consider it slightly light on ‘drinking’ 2005’s, our advise is keep buying. While 2004 and 2006 have their charm, they don’t have the excitement of 2005. 2007, as we discussed at the time, was generally over-priced even though some good wines were made, and our initial impression of the 2008 vintage (yet to be released) is that it will be a very difficult task and pricing is likely to be too high.

 

To summarise the major communes in 2005 from this recent tasting:

 

Saint Estephe: These wines remain brooding beasts and are still fairly austere but the potential is clearly there. With the exception of the 1^st Growth and La Mission-Haut-Brion, Cos d’Estournel was the highest scoring wine tasted. One of the real surprises was the success of Phelan-Segur where one wine writer scored it higher than Lafite – not bad for a Cru Bourgeois. Calon Segur was well received as was the more humble Cos Labory.

 

Pauillac: Outscored by Saint Julien but still some stunning wines were noted and there was universal agreement about the star qualities of Pontet Canet which was incredibly concentrated. Pichon Baron pipped Pichon Lalande for once (Uncle Bob’s score of 86 does still seem to be way off the mark though) and at the lower end of the price spectrum Haut-Bages-Liberal caught a few eyes. Old favourite Grand Puy Lacoste and Lynch Bages did not disappoint. Of the big Daddies, Mouton pipped Lafite and Latour – the views were it was more forward.

 

Saint Julien: We feel this appellation received the most plaudits. Obviously it isn’t home to any headline grabbing 1^st Growths, but some seriously delicious wines. We sold more Leoville Bartin during at the time of the release and those who bought will be delighted to know it came top equal (with the ever underestimated Léoville Poyferré), while the third Léoville (Lascases) didn’t quite hit the straps. It was still very closed. Langoa Barton (yet again) did well. We consistently recommend this rather modest sister to Leoville Barton as more and more it is justifying our attentions. On the ‘lesser’ front, Gloria did very well.

 

Margaux: It seems that the overall impression of Margaux was a little disappointing, but we detect this is more due to the fact that the Cabernet is taking its time to open rather than the wines falling short of expectations. We are thrilled to see one of our favourites, Rauzan-Ségla, coming top (ignoring for one minute Margaux and Palmer) and d’Issan showed very well, although ever since the release we have felt this wine to be over-valued with Durfort Vivens a better option. Of all the 1^st Growths, Margaux was the top pick. Maybe not a huge surprise – at the time of the release it was the case and it is still holding its position.

 

Graves/Pessac-Léognan: One of the extraordinary stories of the vintage has been the meteoric rise in price of La Mission-Haut-Brion. Those buying En Primeur at £1700 must be feeling very pleased with themselves. Does it justify being valued like a 1^st? Seems so, but beware this becoming the rule for each vintage. Domaine de Chevalier yet again outperformed in the tasting and does remain very good value.

 

Saint Emilion: A somewhat mixed bag, interestingly. It was felt that there was quite a variation in style and many wines were jammy. Overall, it was felt that the wines didn’t demonstrate characteristics of Saint Emilion. Within the whole context of the vintage, we feel St Emilion is the least exciting and there are plenty of other options to be explored. Within the appellation, the big guns of Ausone, Cheval Blanc, Angelus and Pavie showed well, and their prices reflect that. Of the second tier, properties such as Beausejour Becot, La Gaffeliere, Franc Mayne and La Tour Figeac stood out. And as a post script, we tried the Coutet at our offices on Monday night and that continues to be superb.

 

Pomerol: The standard here was excellent. ‘Simply superb’ is how they have been described with the likes of Petrus, Le Pin, Evangile and Lafleur gaining the most plaudits, unsurprisingly. L’Eglise Clinet came out as a wine which turned some heads and we are delighted to see one of our top picks at the time of the release, Croix de Gay, making an excellent impression.

 

As ever, we would be delighted to talk to you in more detail about these wines or any others, so please do give us a call.

 

Yours, Ed