It’s easy to be cynical about over-hyped wines, particularly when they come from Bordeaux. The region has played ‘boy who cried wolf’ too many times to be taken seriously. Not enough sunshine to soften the wines? Trust the Bordelais to describe it as a ‘classic’ vintage. Too much rain leading to diluted tastes? ‘Early drinking wines’. They have an answer for everything, and a reputation for putting the prices up to match.
But every once in a while comes along a year that reminds us just what is so magical about this tiny spot of the wine world, and why on the secondary auction market, Bordeaux wines account for over 80% of the activity, offering returns that prove surprisingly steady.
2005 has been called Bordeaux’s ‘vintage of the century’, ‘best vintage since 1961’ and many other things. It received plenty of plaudits at the time, and much of it was snapped up ‘en primeur (as wine futures, two years before bottling)’. The time for bottling has just been and gone for most of the wines, meaning that these wonderful (if wallet-smarting) wines are ready for delivery – and can now be bought in your local wine merchant.
With such a big year, you can expect the wines to last for a long time, but the sunshine and sweet ripe fruit means that many are ready for drinking, or at least will taste pretty amazing already, even if they do have a long life ahead of them. And this is a year to experiment with both small and big names – it doesn’t take a genius to work out that buying a Chateau Mouton Rothschild 2005 is going to bag you a pretty nice tipple (current price per bottle reaching £1000), but with such an outstanding vintage there are excellent wines at all levels, and searching out the wines that punch way above their weight is definitely part of the fun.
Chateau Bellefont Belcier, Saint Emilion Grand Cru 2005 (approx €38,75)
The 20-hectare property was promoted to grand cru classified status in 2006, under successful direction from the brilliant Dominique Hebrard, meaning that the 2005 really is a bargain because you get all the talent of the winemaker without the classification tag on the label. As with so many of the 2005 Bordeaux, this has all the juice and ripe fruit that the region can lack in less successful years, and here the notes of strawberries, lavender and blackberries of the majority-Merlot make it taste wonderfully seductive only three years after harvest. Some toasted oak gives it a sweet finish. This is classic Right Bank Bordeaux.
Chateau Brane Cantenac, Margaux (approx €77.00)
This is owned by Henri Lurton, patriarch of one of the great clans of the region – if you start to get interested in Bordeaux wines, it won’t be very long before you come face to face with the Lurton name. Henri is one of the most reclusive, publicity-shy of the bunch, but that doesn’t stop him from expressing his pedigree through his wine, and this is already tasting delicious, but no doubt can keep going for decades. This is a chateau that I often think is overlooked among the glittering Margaux hierarchy, and the 2005 shows just why we should sit up and take notice, with its heaps of burnt herbs, liquorice, and a sweetness to the black fruits that comes entirely from perfectly ripe picking. Elegant but unmistakably flamboyant, like Oleg Cassini in a glass.
Chateau Rauzan Segla, Margaux 2005 (approx £80)
Not only is this one of the prettiest chateaux in Margaux, but it is also one of the real stars of recent years. In 1994, the second classified growth estate was bought by the Wertheimer family of Chanel, who installed a winemaking team led by David Orr (from Chateau Latour) and American John Kolasa. The quality just keeps getting better under this team, and although it is not a cheap wine, it is very definitely worth it. The 2005 was one of my personal favourites of the appellation, taught and muscular and still barely at the beginning of an enormously long life. Rich blackcherries remind me of overindulging on pick-your-own farms in the 1970s, while the gorgeously perfumed nose just goes on and on.
Clos de Clocher, Pomerol 2005 (approx €65)
This small Pomerol property (just over four hectares in one of Bordeaux’s smallest appellations) is always good value for money, but never more so than in 2005, as owner Jean Baptiste Buorotte didn’t raise his prices to quite the degree of many of his neighbours. The attractive name (a clocher is a church tower) comes from the fact that the vineyard is within sight and sound of the small village church that is pretty much Pomerol’s only landmark. Taste-wise, classic Pomerol flavours of violets and truffles abound. Full-bodied but not overpowering; this is a serious wine to watch.
Chateau du Moulin Rouge, Haut Medoc Cru Bourgeois 2005 (approx €11)
Described by many sources as one of the best value-for-quality 2005s on the market, this small, understated properties is located in the middle of many more prestigious names in the Medoc region of Bordeaux. It is family-run, unpretentious and uses many traditional winemaking methods, from barrel ageing to natural egg-white fining. The 2005 wine contains 50 percent Merlot, 45 percent Cabernet Sauvignon and 5 percent Cabernet Franc, giving it a softer taste profile than many wines from this region, and ensuring that the ripe red fruits take precedence. At this price, you can afford to enjoy the best qualities of this vintage again and again – definitely one to buy by the case.
Chateau La Dauphine, Fronsac 2005 (approx €15)
It has now been seven years since Jean Halley bought this estate from the Moueix family of Chateau Petrus, and the quality has just kept getting better and better. This appellation is just five minutes drive from Saint Emilion and Pomerol, and has many of the qualities of both, without the price tag. Always good value, the 2005 La Dauphine was recently bumped up to a 90-pointer from Robert Parker, meaning that all of a sudden it’s sought after in the US, but although completely sold out at the property, there is still plenty of it available in stores… Round, flattering brambly fruits, full of concentration and purity of flavour. 80 percent Merlot and 20 percent Cabernet Franc.
