Wine Advisor
La Tour Haut Brion 2005
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Description
Tasting notes
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Ruby-red. Plum, black raspberry and cedary oak on the nose. Pure but a bit tightly wound, with lovely texture and uncompromising dryness to the dark raspberry and tobacco flavors. With aeration, this gained in depth and breadth and showed lovely sweetness, but there's very firm acidity here for the vintage. Built to age. Should make an excellent last vintage for this bottling.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Red-ruby. Cherry, mocha, espresso and warm gravel on the nose. Deep, broad and sappy, with dark fruit, smoke, spice and mineral notes supported by a very firm underlying structure. Finishes with big but horizontal and lush tannins and excellent length. Wonderfully dense and full but not at all heavy. This has put on weight since last spring.
Reviewed by: Stephen Tanzer
Full bright, deep ruby. Primary, pure, discreet aromas of black cherry and licorice; less smoky and more floral than usual for this wine at this stage. Then solidly built if a bit youthfully subdued, with bright acids leavening the wine's moderate sweetness. A serious vintage; firm on the finish and showing sneaky persistence.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
The very last vintage (starting in 2006 this vineyard became part of the second wine of La Mission-La Chapelle), this dense ruby/purple-colored, well-textured, broodingly backward 2005 is a 2,000-case blend of 41% Cabernet Franc, 32% Merlot, and 27% Cabernet Sauvignon. Displaying notes of scorched earth, smoke, and asphalt, medium body, and elevated tannin, it needs 7-8 years to reveal its full potential. Anticipated maturity: 2015-2025.
Reviewed by: Neal Martin
The final vintage for La Tour Haut-Brion, but what a way to go! Limpid purple opaque hue. The nose is very tight and sulky, but there is masses of fruit concentration: blackberry, raspberry and well-integrated vanillary oak. Just a hint of dark chocolate developing in the glass. Again, very good balance; firm quite solid tannins, very good delineation and freshness. One of the most backward, broody La Tour Haut-Brion's that I have tasted. Certainly a wine with the structure and weight to suggest long-term cellaring with a tannic finish and a dash of black pepper just to give it a kick. Fabulous: a wine for those who like more cerebral, challenging wines. Tasted April 2006.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Dark ruby/purple-colored with a smoky, barbecue spice, mulberry, and black currant-scented nose, this strong effort reveals more body, density, and length than usual. Anticipated maturity: 2010-2020.
Reviewed by: Robert M. Parker, Jr.
Beginning in 2006, this vineyard became part of La Mission-Haut-Brion’s second wine, so 2005 will be the final vintage of La Tour Haut-Brion. That’s a shame as many superb, under-the-radar wines were produced under this moniker in the forties, fifties, sixties, seventies, and early eighties. The 2005 is a 2,000-case blend of 41% Cabernet Franc, 32% Merlot, and 27% Cabernet Sauvignon, a relatively high amount of Cabernet Sauvignon for a Pessac-Leognan property. It offers classic notes of scorched earth, asphalt, smoky black cherries, and roasted herbs. Medium-bodied and tannic, it is an excellent, but not inspirational claret that should be at its finest between 2013-2025.
About the Producer
La Tour Haut Brion was a separate château, under the same ownership as Châteaux Haut Brion and La Mission Haut Brion. Until 1983 Ch. la Tour Haut-Brion was the second wine of La Mission Haut-Brion, but after the take-over of La Mission and La Tour by the Domaine Clarence Dillon, La Tour gained its own identity. The last vintage of this wine in its own right was 2005, it has since been incorporated into the production of La Mission. The vineyards are planted with 42% Cabernet Sauvignon, 35% Cabernet Franc, 23% Merlot, a similar mix to Haut Brion itself.
