CHATEAU LA MISSION-HAUT-BRION Rouge. Pessac-Leognan 2005 MAGNUM

Description

La Mission Haut-Brion 2005 is a remarkable wine, celebrated as a masterpiece, receiving 100 points from The Wine Advocate and Vinous. This vintage features an extraordinary nose of sweet blackberries, cassis, and spring flowers, underpinned by minerality. The palate offers a full-bodied mouthfeel with velvety tannins, leading to a long, textured finish. James Suckling awarded it 99 points, highlighting its rich profile with plums and unique oyster shell flavours. Decanter scored it 98 points, praising its fragrant rose petals and earthy notes. This wine embodies elegance and power, making it ideal for enjoyment between 2024 and 2045.

*****

THE WINE ADVOCATE Rating 100 !!!
Drink Date 2015 - 2045
The 2005 La Mission Haut-Brion is pure perfection. It has an absolutely extraordinary nose of sweet blackberries, cassis and spring flowers with some underlying minerality, a full-bodied mouthfeel, gorgeously velvety tannins (which is unusual in this vintage) and a long, textured, multi-layered finish that must last 50+ seconds. This is a fabulous wine and a great effort from this hallowed terroir. Drink this modern-day legend over the next 30+ years. Only 5,500 cases were produced of this blend of 69% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon and 1% Cabernet Franc.
Published: Jun 29, 2015

VINOUS 100 points !!!
Drinking Window 2021 - 2055
From: 2005 Bordeaux: Here and Now (Apr 2021)
The 2005 La Mission Haut-Brion is unquestionably one of the wines of the vintage. Effusive aromatics and bright, red-toned fruit make a strong first impression. A wine of vertical intensity and explosive energy, the 2005 is a towering masterpiece. Today it is just at the beginning of a long drinking window that will last another few decades. Red cherry, plum, leather, spice, gravel, smoke, blood orange and pomegranate infuse the palate staining finish. In 2005, La Mission is a wine that satisfies all the senses, from the intellectual to the hedonistic. Magnificent. Tasted two times. - By Antonio Galloni on April 2021

JAMES SUCKLING 99 points
This is very rich and layered for La Mission with ultra-polished tannins yet velvety and beautiful in texture. It's fully-bodied and full of character that shows plums, berries, wet earth and oyster shell flavors that are so unique to reds from this estate. Superb quality. Better to drink this in 2020 but try now to feel the greatness.

DECANTER 98 points
Tasted by: Natalie Earl
(at New York, 08 Jun 2024)
Part of Domaine Clarence Dillon masterclass: DFWE NYC 2024
Drinking Window: 2024 - 2040
What an incredible sensory experience! A wine that's perfumed and elegant yet also powerful and loud. Fragrant rose petals and red berries are complemented by smouldering embers, dried mushrooms and liquorice. The structure is dense, the tannins a thick weave, but it's not overbearing. It has delicacy and an endless finish.

WINE ENTHUSIAST 97 points
Dark and dense, but with such opulent fruit, this is a year when La Mission shows its softer, richer side by comparison with neighbor Haut-Brion. There is spice and exotic and generous red fruits to give with the concentration. It has great power, but it also has a velvet structure. — Roger Voss

JANCIS ROBINSON 18 points
Deep classic shaded crimson. High-toned mineral nose that should really satisfy traditionalists. A savoury yeast-extract/Marmite edge. Very directed and focused and Cabernet on the palate – almost essence of Cabernet. Marked acidity and tannin. Utterly classic – not an ounce of spare flesh. Everything there for a fine, long future.