100
Jeb Dunnuck Tasting Note
At another level, the 2005 Château Margaux is as good as it gets, offering an incredible, full-bodied, layered style as well as the classic nuance, complexity, and elegance this Château is known for. Based on 85% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Merlot raised in new barrels, its still youthful ruby/purple hue is followed by a kaleidoscope-like array of cassis, smoked currants, cedar pencil, spring flowers, and graphite. With incredible concentration, a multi-dimensional, layered mouthfeel, loads of ripe yet perfectly integrated tannins, and a finish that makes you salivate, this insanely good Margaux is just now at the early stages of its prime drinking window and has another 30 years of prime drinking ahead of it. Legendary juice.
97
Wine Spectator Tasting Note
Interesting, this is starting to deliver some fireworks aromatically, with singed alder, sandalwood and smoldering charcoal notes peeking out, though the core is still tightly coiled, with a wall of grip shrouding the plum, red currant and bitter cherry fruit. Iron and chalk elements drive the finish today, with a grainier edge than the '09 or '10, but no less length or cut. This shows the extra élevage (two years) as it's built more on grip, but the aromas that are starting to emerge suggest that this will be a worthy rival to the '10.
97
Vinous Tasting Note
(85% cabernet sauvignon, 8% merlot, 6% petit verdot and 1% cabernet franc) Bright, saturated ruby-red; not the darkest young Margaux of recent years. Brilliantly perfumed, pure nose of blackberry, violet, minerals and sexy toasty oak. Wonderfully sweet and subtle in the mouth, with the wine's extraordinary finesse of texture partly hiding its great density. It's hard to imagine a more seamless, fine-grained wine at this level of power. Blue and black fruits are further sharpened by the wine's floral character. Perhaps most impressive today on the back half, where the wine spreads out to take over the entire palate and ultimately expands to fill the mouth and olfactories. There's great backbone here for aging, but no sensation of hardness even today.
100
James Suckling Tasting Note
The nose on this seems more concentrated than the 2000, and the purity of fruit is stunning, with blueberries, raspberries, fresh flowers, and hints of licorice. This is perfect and complete. Full bodied, with notes of forest berries and wild raspberries, this is thick and velvety with perfectly polished tannins. You can really feel the density on this, more than the tannic structure. This is a sleeping beauty that will be utterly captivating when it awakes. Don't touch this until after 2015.
98
Wine Advocate Tasting Note
The Château Margaux 2005 has a near-perfect bouquet with brilliant precision and remarkable focus: mainly black, mineral-soaked fruit that grows more and more intense in the glass. That graphite note becomes more pronounced with aeration, lending it an almost Pauillac-like style. The palate is effortless, with sumptuous ripe tannins, perfect acidity, layers of sensual ripe red fruit, and a precise mineral finish. This is sheer class, a crystalline beauty, and the persistence is simply breathtaking.
