97
Jeb Dunnuck Tasting Note
The 2005 Château Lafite-Rothschild is a beauty, and it has that quintessential power paired with incredible elegance and complexity that this Château does so well. Based on 89% Cabernet Sauvignon and 11% Merlot, it has perfumed notes of red and black fruits, freshly sharpened pencils, saddle leather, graphite, and spice. These all carry to a medium to full-bodied 2005 that has a layered, balanced mouthfeel, ripe tannins, and a great finish. It stays relatively focused and tight on the palate, and benefits from air. Drink bottles any time over the coming 20-30 years.
98
Wine Spectator Tasting Note
Delivers blackberry, dried porcini, tobacco and licorice aromas. Full-bodied, with layers of velvety tannins and loads of dark chocolate, cigar box, currant, berry and mineral. The finish is long, with a coffee, almost meaty, aftertaste. Very beautiful and balanced. (JS)
95
Vinous Tasting Note
(88.8% cabernet sauvignon, 10.7% merlot and 0.5% petit verdot) Bright ruby-red. Discreet aromas of crushed cassis, cedar and cool licorice. Juicy, very tight and penetrating, with brooding black fruit, graphite and mineral flavors. At once suave and austere, with very firm but fine-grained tannins and slowly mounting flavors that go on and on. This has an IPT of 70, like the 2003, but has a slightly lower pH and higher acidity (3.3 grams, vs. just 3 for the 2003). And the alcohol here is just 12.9%. My score may prove to be conservative. This wine is a cinch to develop in bottle for three decades or more, and should probably not be broached until at least 2017.
100
James Suckling Tasting Note
An incredible nose, so subtle with red fruits, mint, minerals, and all sorts of flowers give way to Cohiba cigar tobacco. The palate has such freshness and density, with perfectly polished tannins. Slightly leathery, like a wonderful Hermes bag. What a wine, please leave this for another ten years.
96
Wine Advocate Tasting Note
Having tasted the 2005 Château Lafite-Rothschild several times both blind and non-blind, it comes across as a First Growth politely requesting more time to "settle". Here, from an ex-château bottle tasted in Bordeaux, it delivers that graphite, pencil-box bouquet that unfurls gradually in the glass, biding its time, graceful but not intense. Parallel to some of its fellow 2005s, it is developing a little more spice, namely thyme and sage, than I recall. The palate is medium-bodied and beautifully balanced, to wit, a sophisticated Pauillac that priorities elegance and poise over intensity of fruit—in keeping with Lafite Rothschild's style. You come away with the sense that it will take its time and decline, giving away a great deal in its primacy, even if it is still more approachable than the 2005 Latour for example. Therefore, I would be inclined to set this aside for several more years. (RP)