Château Haut-Brion 2005

This 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.

This classic from the heralded 2005 vintage is finally living up to its potential, with forward, ripe plummy fruit and elements of wood smoke, gunflint, and earth. The texture is still firm and tannic, but there is no astringency, and the somewhat monolithic character has faded. A nuanced, subtle sheen now gives the wine an elegance and harmony that it did not possess in the early years of its evolution. It is now evident that this is a wine for the ages. Merlot dominates the blend at 56% of the total.

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 lead to a delightful finish. Please leave this alone until 2020.

Bright ruby-red. Wonderfully expressive nose combines black raspberry, mocha, hot stones, caramel and tobacco. Lush, fat and full but with terrific definition and suavity to its extravagantly dense black raspberry, stone and licorice flavors. As large-scaled as this is, it's not at all overly sweet. Expands impressively on the back half, finishing with substantial tannins that are thoroughly covered by fruit. A great vintage for Haut-Brion.

Leather, smoke, tobacco, cigar box and an array of red and black fruits create a complex nose that pops with little effort. The wine is silky, smooth, ripe, concentrated and opulent, displaying a youthful, pure essence of fruit.

An absolutely perfect wine in every way, the 2005 Château Haut-Brion reveals a more vivid ruby/plum hue as well as a quintessential Haut-Brion bouquet of ripe blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, iron, and lead pencil, with just a hint of background violet and floral, earthy nuances. Rich, full-bodied and powerful, it stays tight and compact on the palate and has building, flawless tannins as well as nicely integrated acidity.

Deep, saturated garnet with lilac glints at the rim and violet highlights at the core. Initial nose of pitch-black berries, noble Havana tobacco, tar notes, black truffle, cloves, dried bay leaves, mint and fresh thyme. On the palate, firm and strongly astringent, yet endowed with ripe, patient tannins; the gigantic berry aromatics remain in the black-fruit spectrum every second, with a finish that lasts for minutes, providing the necessary emphasis. Never before has WeinWisser tasted a barrel sample of Haut-Brion that so closely resembles the legendary 1961.

56% Merlot, 39% Cabernet Sauvignon, 5% Cabernet Franc. 9,000 cases. Deep, saturated garnet with a lilac rim and violet highlights at the core. The first nose is marked by pitch-black berries and noble Havana tobacco. Tar notes, black truffles, cloves, dried bay leaves, mint, and fresh thyme. On the palate, firm, strongly astringent, yet equipped with ripe, patient tannins; the gigantic berry aromatics remain resolutely in the black-fruit register at every moment, and beneath it all a tenor-like depth emerges; the finish lasts for minutes and gives this already nearly legendary Haut-Brion the emphasis it deserves. Gabriel: “Never before have I tasted a barrel sample of Haut-Brion that so closely resembles the legendary 1961 and could one day be its worthy successor!” (20/20). 13: Dense, dark purple-garnet. Shows a lot of spicy yet still closed Cabernet, plums, cassis, and teak; you can feel this wine’s absolute greatness, but access to it is still limited for now. On the palate, convincingly complex, full and fleshy, showing massive extract concentration; the finale tightens and the wine ends with a massive bundling of aromas in an extremely long finish almost entirely on black fruit. This will be a very, very great Haut-Brion. Unfortunately, it is still miles away from its first drinking maturity. (20/20). 15: Medium-dark garnet, very dense at the core. Surprisingly open bouquet, plenty of malt notes, pleasant roasty tones, mulberries galore and lots of cassis and other berries. On the palate, elegant; the supportive acidity is by nuances stronger than the astringency; the sweetness polishes the massive, very well-distributed tannins, so it’s no crime to approach the wine perhaps for the first time even now. It’s a subtly soothing classic that still needs at least 10 years to reach its first maturity. Likely even longer. (20/20). 19: At a lunch on mission. The color, almost black. The nasal aromatics, likewise black. The palate, imposing. Exactly as one of my wine friends always said: “Haut-Brion is a gentle giant!” (20/20).

Concentrated, complex, closed, sensational bouquet, cassis, fine plum notes, slate, cedar. Dense, multi-layered, concentrated palate with plenty of fine tannins, a tightly interwoven, brilliant structure, diverse, sweet aromatics, very long, dense, full finish. 20/20 2020 - 2050

The stand-out First Growth in my recent retasting of the 2005s, and once again it blew us all away. This was a drought year, with almost no rain from May to October, but never excessively hot, and the balance is evident. The slightly dry tannins that affected many 2005s when young were never such an issue on the warm soils at Haut-Brion, and this is generous, exceptionally nuanced and flavourful, with vivid black cherry and cassis fruits, shot through with liquorice, cocoa bean, pomegranate, sage, cocoa bean and luscious acidity. Jean-Philippe Delmas, winemaker, two years into his tenure at the time after taking over from his father Jean-Bernard Delmas in 2003. 100% new oak.

The 2005 Haut-Brion is a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-brick in color, the nose explodes with heart-thumping floral and fragrant earth notes over a core of Morello cherries, black raspberries, and creme de cassis. It is medium to full-bodied, with super-firm, ripe tannins and a lively backbone lending a rock-solid structure to the bright, muscular fruit. The palate absolutely shimmers with stunning mineral and floral notes, finishing with epic length. Tantalizingly good now, expect even greater things with 5-10 more years of bottle age. It will cellar to 2070 and, most likely, well beyond. Bought by an American banker / financier Clarence Dillon in 1935, it remains in the family today, with Prince Robert of Luxembourg now managing the 125-acre estate on the edge of Bordeaux city, in the town of Pessac. The soils include some very deep gravels and a good amount of clay. Clonal variation adds to the complexity of the site, with over 500 different clones. Jean-Phillip Delmas is the third generation in his family to oversee winemaking at this estate. The style is often more elegant, minerally, and refined than its flamboyant sibling La Mission Haut-Brion. Indeed, Haut-Brion can appear austere in its youth.

A monumental wine, with a level of natural alcohol rarely seen in the region, featuring immensely powerful yet remarkably extracted tannins, and standing apart within its appellation thanks to its high proportion of outstanding Merlots.

Generous and complete, with remarkable youthful character. It gains in breadth over time. A warm, lingering finish.

Logo on the cork: inverted T (Trescases) Dark, intense color with slight evolution. Very aromatic nose, fruity and vanilla, with a hint of blackcurrant and “capsule”. Rich entry on the palate; the wine unfolds with power and pronounced fruit. Unfortunately, the finish is a bit firm, with less flair than the previous wine, even though the length is very good.

95-97 barrel sample. A huge, muscular wine. Brooding and intense, but the tannins keep themselves in order. Very different from its stablemate, La Mission Haut-Brion.