For those seeking a comprehensive overview of Bordeaux best vintages and comparisons between legendary years, we recommend visiting Cult's Guide to The Best Bordeaux Vintage Years.
A dozen wines have been given perfect 100-point ratings in Robert Parker’s 10-year retrospective of the 2005 Bordeaux vintage.
The vintage now has the second largest number of 100 point wines, behind 2009 which has 19 in total.
Of the 2005 vintage, eight top scorers are from Saint Emilion, two are from Pomerol and two from Pessac-Léognan. They include: Angelus, Ausone, Bellevue-Mondotte, Cheval Blanc, L’Eglise Clinet, Haut Brion, Lafleur, Larcis Ducasse, La Mission Haut Brion, Pavie, Peby Faugeres and Troplong Mondot.
The highest rated Medoc is now Maragaux with 98%, followed by Palmer and Latour on 98. Mouton Rothschild, whose upgrade to 99+/100 caused a stir last December, has been scored 97.
Parker said in his review: “From the beginning, I thought this was a vintage surrounded by excessive and unprecedented hype. At the same time, I considered it a vintage that would require considerable patience for the wines to evolve. As I said back in Issue 164 (April 2006), ‘[It is] risky to conclude … that the finest wines of 2005 are superior to the best of 2003, especially the northern Médocs, or the best wines of 2000, 1998 (for Pomerol and St.-Emilion), 1990, or the most profound 1989s and 1982s.’ That said, tasting the wines 10 years later, I would tend to agree with those early comments.”
He concluded: “This vintage looks strong and impressive at age 10. I do believe it is eclipsed in quality and consistency by both the 2009s and 2010s, but only by a relatively minor margin.”
