It’s quite interesting to read various chatboards and blogs regarding the final 2005 Bordeaux scores in the latest Wine Spectator.  As I peruse through the Spectator’s report, James Suckling writes about how great the vintage is and how it equals or tops all of this fabled region’s greatest years.  He even goes on to write that the wines now are made better than ever before and attention to detail has never been at the level it is today. But in spite of all he wrote and the big numbers he gave to many of the wines, it seems most folks are unhappy with the final numbers thinking that, overall, they were too low for a mythical vintage like 2005.  Yet what is more interesting, particularly to me, is that there were no surprises.  We didn’t get a 94 point Les Tourelles de Longueville or 95 point Cantemerle as we did in 1989.  These are the types of price/value ratios we in the trade, as well as you the consumer, highly anticipate in an issue like this when it hits the newsstands.  But it just didn’t happen.

To defend the Spectator, there were some higher-than-ever scores. Let’s take the 2005 Rol Valentin for example, which received a range score of 95-100 points from barrel and sold for $60 dollars as a future.  The wine sold very well, but was the reason it sold so well was because while the First Growths were selling for over $500 a bottle, people were gambling on the fact that this wine may be that 100 point surprise at well south of $100?  Maybe so, but for a final score of 95 points, it is the highest score ever received for the estate and furthermore, the final score did remain in the original range even though it was at the lower end.  One thing’s for sure, the vintage does feature many estates receiving the higest scores ever from the Spectator.  Wines like Boyd Cantenac (92), Haut-Bages-Liberal (93), Faugeres (93), Gazin (94),  Rauzan Segla (97), Haut Bailly (95), St. Pierre (93) and Malescot St. Exupery (97), among others, have never achieved the success they did in this vintage.

Take it from us, there is a ridiculous amount of great wine in ’05.  It’s apleasure to have tasted these promising youngsters from barrel and then seeing them again in the bottle maintaining (and exceeding) that promise.  We recently had an ’05 tasting here at the store that featured wines from $15 to $275. It was amazing to note the diversity in what people liked.  Some dug Troplong Mondot (WS 96, WA 96-100), while others liked Bellevue (WS 91, WA 94-96) better. But the one thing most all of the ninety tasters agreed upon was that there wasn’t a dog in the bunch.

In summary, this is one heckuva year and most all the wines we see come through our doors will be some of the finest examples these chateaux have ever produced. The critics can say what they will.  But let’s not get buried in the minutia of whether or not a certain wine is worth 92, 93 or 94 points.  If you’re a Beychevelle fan, you’re going to dig the 2005…it’s a killer wine.  If you love Bellefont Belcier, you’ll be simply delirious over the 2005.  And so on.  But don’t delay, the window of availability is rapidly closing and you will regret not jumping on board this train…