The primeur tastings – the one week wine jamboree for the trade in Bordeaux to present the latest vintage – are now over. Everyone seems to agree that 2005 is an outstanding vintage, and that it will be an expensive vintage. Expectations are turned up for substantial price increases. It will be interesting to see what happens when asking prices are announced later this year. Here are some interesting comments about the wines:
- The tastings day-by-day, BBR.com
- Tastings Predict 2005 as Best Bordeaux Vintage in Half Century, Bloomberg.com
(”It’s a huge vintage,” [said Gad Petterson, a buyer for Systembolaget], sniffing a glass of Chateau Talbot appreciatively. ”It has good balance. It’s unusually even across Bordeaux. I’ve tasted all the wines.”)
- New 2005 Bordeaux Wine Prices May Challenge Records, Buyers Say, Bloomberg.com
- Bordeaux 2005: stats are all that’s left, Decanter.com
(“At Chateau Teyssier in St Emilion, Jonathan Maltus was picking Merlot at 15.5% alcohol – two degrees higher than normal”)
- Bordeaux 2005 Vintage Report by Jasper Morris, BBR.com
- Bordeaux en Primeur 2005 by Roger Voss, The Wine Enthusiast
- Bordeaux 2005 – Purity With Power, and also A Question of Extraction, by Jancis Robinson in FT.com