Bordeaux 2005 at Ten Years: Pauillac
There was a noted spread of quality in Pauillac in this tasting, although in such a benevolent vintage the spread of scores are naturally shifted upwards. There are no surprises with those châteaux that have floated to the top in this vintage, although there may be one or two surprises when it comes to those châteaux that are not ranked as highly as we might expect.
It is only natural during such a tasting to look to the first growths to see how they compare against one another, and indeed the very last question fired my way as I left this tasting of the 2005 Bordeaux vintage asked for my opinion on this. The truth is though it doesn’t really matter, as none of the three Pauillac premier cru classé châteaux have dropped the ball in 2005. I have my preferences, but if you have any bottles from these three châteaux tucked away in the cellar then you are very fortunate, as all three wines are simply stunning. At ten years, these wines are barely into their stride though, being full of sweet fruit and texture, and laced through with tannin, in each case all put together with a great sense of harmony. I suspect they are wines which people will speak of with a sense of wonderment in two or three decades, rather as we might regard the greatest wines of other long-forgotten and infrequently tasted (or indeed never-tasted) vintages such as 1961 or 1945.
