Wine Enthusiast Magazine / April 2006 / Bordeaux en primeur 2005

Bordeaux en primeur 2005

European editor Roger Voss gives daily assessments and tasting notes on the wines at the week-long event.

Bordeaux en Primeur 2005

Bordeaux 2005 is already touted as one of the greatest vintages since 1945, the victory vintage. This week Wine Enthusiast Magazine will find out if that's true. Is it another wine of the century, or just a very good year?

This is Bordeaux en primeur - futures - week. And from the Left Bank of the Médoc and Graves to the Right Bank of Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, it's the Oscars week in wine.

I will be tasting barrel samples of Bordeaux 2005 and will assess the quality, the drinkability and the collectibility of

these wines. Each day, I will present new tasting notes, comments on the wines, and the latest news of the wine market.

From the first growths of chateaux Lafite, Latour, Mouton, Margaux and Haut-Brion to Pétrus, Cheval Blanc, Cos d'Estournel and many more, the red wines, the sweet Sauternes and the dry whites will be tasted and scored. I will report on speculation on price for the great, the good and the good value.

Bordeaux vintage 2005, it is already being suggested that it is better than the 2003 vintage which has just reached the American market. It is better than the 2000 vintage which achieved record prices. A warm summer with cool nights and dry weather, set up the perfect conditions for great wines.

Climatologists are suggesting that the recent succession of excellent vintages in Bordeaux has been the result of global warming. With the weather in Europe heating up, Bordeaux is in the midst of a period in which it will have better, more regular, ripening conditions than in the past. This period may last 15-20 years, the experts say, before Bordeaux becomes too hot. But for now, it is a magnificent moment to be a Bordeaux wine producer.

 Watch this space for the latest from Bordeaux 2005, the diamond vintage.

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Day 1: Bordeaux Red 2005: Right Bank / Bordeaux White 2005: Sweet Whites

Day 2: Margaux

Day 3: More firsts, super seconds and Medoc greats

Day 4: Saint-Emilion, Pomerol

Day 5 (final day): Graves, Haut-Brion and Latour