Good ruby-red. Reticent but nuanced nose hints at currant, game, iron and coffee. A fruit bomb in the mouth, with fat, sweet flavors of redcurrant, raspberry, tobacco and smoked meat. As full-blown and ripe as this is on first blush, there's plenty of ripe tannins and firm acids underneath. In fact, this quickly shut down in the glass, suggesting that it will require at least six or seven years of aging. The thickest of these three vintages, but the young 2007 is more suave.

Community Tasting Notes (average 89.5 pts. and median of 90 pts. in 11 notes)

The days were warmer than average in 2005 but the nights far colder, allowing the grapes to mature slowly with none of the excesses of 2003. Because of the very dry summer, berries tended to be small with deep skins, giving a very high tannin content, often the highest ever. Acidity was fair - higher than in 2003 but less than in 1998 or 1996 - aiding balance, and thanks to a level of viticulture and vinification in Saint-Emilion that has never been higher, overall quality was very good. The wines are big, rich in alcohol and tannin, and better balanced than most 2003s. The only real difficulty was to extract 'noble' tannins from the skins and not heavy ones from the pips - and quite a lot failed. Generally, the wines are built for long ageing, and will certainly soften with one more year in good casks. Michel Bettane is France’s foremost wine critic and former editor of La Revue du Vin de France. He is publisher of the wine website www.bettanedesseauve.com<br/><br/>Excellent and harmonious body, very complex scent, precise and intelligent winemaking, one of the best wines of the Pomerol border in this vintage and the resurrection of very good terroir. Drink from 2013. (16.5 points)

Princeton Corkscrew $50

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