Bordeaux 2005: 23 top wines tasted two decades on

In the spring of 2006, the wine world was a very different place; the insatiable demand for Burgundy was barely a twinkle in the milkman’s eye, Bordeaux was the undisputed deity of the wine world, and the entire known wine universe was ruled by one Robert M. Parker Jr.

History

When ‘Bob Parker’ released his first report on the 2005 vintage, titled; ‘Is 2005 the perfect vintage?’, ahead of the much-awaited En Primeur campaign, lovers of fine wine across the globe frantically contacted their bank managers to lay hands on any and everything that came their way.

Of course, the campaign was a roaring success, even with the relatively lofty prices, but there came a twist… when the great man, who had fuelled massive hype and demand through his comments, released his ‘in-bottle’ review, all and sundry were flabbergasted to read that there were only two ‘perfect’ 100 point scores from the hundreds reviewed.

He went on to qualify that ‘the perfect vintage’ referred, not necessarily to the absolute highs, but the exceptional median quality and homogeneity present, left and right, from top to bottom and everywhere in between.

In more recent years we have seen similar comments made about 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2022. As a great château owner once joked: ‘We don’t have bad vintages in Bordeaux. We have good vintages, great vintages and vintage of the century… but we can only use that every five years’.

The question on every Bordeaux lover’s lips is: ‘Where does 2005 sit in the pantheon of ‘vintages of the century?’ that are already so numerous in the first three decades of the new millennium.

Notes and scores for 23 Bordeaux wines from 2005 below

Weather conditions

The growing season was textbook and pleasingly effortless, dry being the predominant word but with some timely rain. Hot of course, but with no heatwaves as in 2003.

The cool nights gave the grapes a little refresh button after a day of basking in the sun, aiding in a gradual and gentle course to perfect phenolic ripeness. This long, slow ripening helped bring great balance to the wines.

Nonetheless, a few wines are showing their inherent ripeness; Château la Conseillante, Chaâteau Pontet-Canet, Château Palmer, Château Giscours to name a few.

As we would possibly expect in a vintage famed for evolving so slowly, there are more than a few wines that remain unresolved and very youthful.

Although some château exhibited the quirks common in warm vintages, many showed a beautiful purity and classicism, on the left bank especially.

Alcohols hover around the 13% mark, a pleasing number for the traditionalists among us, and a clear example of a benchmark vintage that, in the most part, refuses to succumb to anything flabby or excessive.

While tasting these wines 20 years on showed substantial stylistic differences, the homogeneity in terms of quality, seems to ring as true today, as it did for Robert Parker 19 years ago.

This does beg the question… in this benchmark vintage, are the First Growths and peers a significant enough step up, or, would other properties, not so lauded in the 1855 Classification, bring a similar amount of pleasure without the additional price tag?

Price and value

Scouring for prices on WineSearcher reveal the most expensive wine to be Château Cheval Blanc at around £900 a bottle (Margaux next at £859), and the cheapest Château Batailley at £65 (next Gruaud-Larose at £80).

Undoubtedly the First Growths of 2005 are among the very best wines produced this century. However, I would argue in a homogenous vintage like 2005, many others, such as Château Montrose and Château Figeac, hit far above their ‘classification’ and make for a very tempting proposition at a significantly lower price point (around £118 and £175 respectively).

While I would not peddle 2005 to be greater than the likes of 2009, 2010, 2015 and 2016, there is no doubt that 2005 Bordeaux is a truly great vintage.

Although some 2005s remain in their gangly unresolved stage of youth, others are showing glimmers, to say the least, of their potential elegance, gravitas and greatness.

See all 23 Bordeaux 2005 wines re-tasted 20 years on

All of the wines were tasted as part of the Berry Bros. & Rudd 2005 Bordeaux 20 years on tasting in London. 

Related articles

• Collector’s Guide: Left Bank Bordeaux
• The year that could have been great – Our expert selects the best 2006 Bordeaux wines
• Decanter Value Index: The best Bordeaux first growth vintages for collectors