Bordeaux 2005 at Four Years: Pessac-Léognan
Whatever the quality of the vintage, the Pessac section at the annual IMW tasting is always a delight. Not because the wines are better than any other commune, as Pessac-Léognan is just as much at the whim of rain and rot as any other appellation, it is more that opportunities to taste Haut-Brion, La Mission Haut-Brion and La Tour Haut-Brion side-by-side don’t come along very often. Indeed, as the latter of these three estates is now defunct, having been wound up with this very vintage and the vines and their produce absorbed into the other Haut-Brion wines, these opportunities will become increasingly rare.
Happily, the presence of even just two of the wines, Haut-Brion and La Mission, will be sufficient for most people (including myself), especially when partnered with the likes of Haut-Bailly, Pape-Clément and others as in this tasting. A comparison of the two first growths (La Mission being elevated to this level for the purposes of this exercise) is inevitable I suppose, and although in this vintage both are supreme wines I felt that on this showing, for my palate at least, Haut-Brion carries just a touch more majesty and a more brooding character which marks it out, ultimately, as the greater wine. La Mission is no feeble effort though, is extraordinarily close in terms of quality, and has a delightfully perfumed, tobacco-laced style. I would be ecstatic to be in possession of a bottle (or even better, a case) of either.
