Bob Campbell is one of only 264 Masters of Wine in the world. An international wine judge, Bob judges wine professionally in ten countries and contributes regularly to publications around the world. His specialty is New Zealand wine which he reviews from an international perspective.
2005 red Bordeaux, a tasting of 27 wines
The leftovers
I’m writing this in my room at the Hilton Hotel in Singapore after a challenging day tasting 27 Bordeaux reds from the 2005 vintage followed by 24 tannic samples of Barolo, mostly from the excellent 2004 vintage.
Both tastings were part of the World Gourmet Summit, an annual orgy of fine wine and food organised by the eponymous Peter Knipp. It’s a great event attracting many of Singapore’s serious wine enthusiasts plus a number from beyond Singapore’s shores.
I can confirm that 2005 was indeed a great Bordeaux vintage. If I could fault a fairly faultless year it would be that a number of wines appeared slightly over-ripe but that’s a minor quibble.
I appear to be, rather scarily, in the Parker camp by giving a nod to the garagiste wine, Valandraud and endorsing Parkers passion for Pavie. Anyway, for what it’s worth, I bare my soul and reveal my pecking order with scores. My apologies for the formatting of wines and scores.
96 Château Valandraud
96 Château Pichon Baron
96 Château Reignac
95 Château Mouton-Rothschild
95 Château Domaine de l’A
95 Château Pavie
94 Château Cos d’Estournel
94 Château Le Bon Pasteur
94 Château Léoville Poyferré
94 Château Pichon Comtesse
94 Château Haut-Condissas
93+ Château Beychvelle
93+ Château Haut-Marbuzet
93 Château Haut-Brion
93 Château Lascombes
92 Château Talbot
92 Château La Mondotte
91 Château Pape-Clément
91 Château Canon
90 Château Angelus
90 Château Rauzan-Ségla
90 Château La Tour Carnet
88 Château Smith Haut-Lafitte
88 Château Haut-Carles
87 Château Haut-Bailly
85 Château Beauregard
84 Château Malartic-Lagravière
April 18th, 2010 at 9:36 am
Is modern Bordeaux a different wine to that of the past, say two or three decades ago? Then we accepted leafiness and (over?) elegance as well as brettanomyces (before they figured what it was) as part of the style. Nowadays, ripeness is a pre-requisite.
Are the wines that pass the edge into slight sur-maturite the ‘norm’ for today’s claret? As climate change creeps on, the goal posts may change and evolve again…
April 18th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
You are absolutely right, Raymond, point well made. I guess traditionalists will mourn the loss of the more edgy (and often downright faulty) wines of the past but for my money I like the more modern wines. I was accused of being too “Parker-friendly” by someone in the audience for my endorsement of a wine that turned out to be Valandraud but one of the French Grand Jury members later buttonholed me and said that he totally agreed wiht my comments (mind you he was from Burgundy).
April 18th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
damn, and the only one on your list i have bought is near the bottom of the list
Haut-Bailly!
April 25th, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Hi Bob, have you experienced some 09 Bordeaux barrel sample?
April 26th, 2010 at 2:36 pm
No I haven’t. Always interesting to taste barrel samples but I never review them because the finished wine can sometimes be totally different.