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