2005 Red Wine

Wine Spectator, 91 points: Aromas of mineral blackberry and licorice lead to a full body with lots of racy tannins and a long flavorful finish. There's plenty of character with a polished refined style yet tannic. Best after 2011. 9830 cases made...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 96 points: Deep garnet colored, the 2005 Hillside Shiraz reveals a wonderfully expressive, spicy nose with some notes of game, potpourri, dried cranberries and kirsch. It is a glorious, full-bodied wine packed with complex flavor...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 95 points: D'Arenberg's most famous wine is its flagship The Dead Arm Shiraz. The 2005 The Dead Arm Shiraz is sourced from ancient head-pruned vines. It was aged for 22 months in a mix of new and used French and American oak. It is...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 98 points: Say what you will about a Cabernet Sauvignon with 18% alcohol, ultimately it is balance that counts. The fruit is sourced from the Greenock region of the Barossa, one of the Valley’s premier terroirs, and the 2005 is 100%...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 97 points: The 2005 The Factor is 100% Shiraz sourced from dry grown vines from six sub-regions of Barossa. It spent 24 months in 30% new French oak. Opaque purple-colored, it delivers an expressive bouquet of pepper, smoke...

Wine Enthusiast, 97 points: Power and elegance merge effortlessly in this superb wine. Its pure black currant fruit is tightly coiled supported by just the right amount of firm tannins. Great aging potential. A triumph. - R.V.

Decanter, 100 points: This stunning wine is still extremely young, with an amazingly expressive nose with tea leaf hints. The aromatics keep building and building in the glass, and the elegance and persistency shine through. This was a drought...

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 94 points: Rated, no tasting note given. - Jay Miller

Robert Parker's Wine Advocate, 100 points: 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...

Wine Enthusiast, 90 points: A full, firm, ripe wine that shows considerable style and richness. There are fine, dusty tannins, masking the full-bodied black fruits, licorice flavors, and a firm, smooth aftertaste.

Wine & Spirits, 100 points: How rare to confront a wine of this inner strength and perfect form. Grown at a 116-acre vineyard at the southern border of Pauillac, some of the vines now reaching 100 years of age on a gravel bar overlooking the...

Wine Spectator, 94 points: (92-94 points) Fabulous aromas of blackberry licorice and flowers. Wonderful nose. Full-bodied with racy tannins and a long finish. This is powerful and rich. This is very long and velvety. Gorgeous. The winemaker here...

Wineanorak, 94 points: Ripe, aromatic dark fruits nose. The palate is dense with lovely sweetness to the fruit. Very approachable, but structured with it. Nice.

Wine Spectator, 95 points: Dark purple in color. Offers pure fruit with crushed raspberry blackberry and dried flowers on the nose. Full-bodied with supersilky tannins that touch every inch of the palate. Long and racy with elegance and beauty...