This is a wine that makes you dream. The nose is packed with flowers, sweet tobacco, iodine, spices, raspberries, blackberries, and great freshness. The texture is perfection, pure silk and the fruit is wonderfully complex and subtle. Currants, fresh mushrooms, flowers, and stones fill the mouth and make way to a delightful finish. Please leave this alone until 2020.

An absolutely perfect wine in every way, the 2005 Château Haut-Brion reveals a more vivid ruby/plum hue as well as a quintessential Haut-Brion bouquet of ripe blackcurrants, smoked tobacco, iron, and lead pencil, with just a hint of background violet and floral, earthy nuances. Rich, full-bodied and powerful, it stays tight and compact on the palate and has building, flawless tannins as well as nicely integrated acidity.

The mineral-laced 2005 Haut Brion (56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot and 5% Cabernet Franc) is exquisite. With its elegance and finesse, it is not as powerful as La Mission, but the nobility and complexity of the aromatics, incredible fragrance (subtle smoke and blue, red, and black fruits) that persists in the glass, full-bodied mouthfeel (though very light and delicate on its feet), and incredible length characterize this great Haut-Brion. It is just starting to drink well, and should continue to do so for at least another three decades. It is a tour de force in winemaking, but only 9,000 cases were produced.- RP

The 2005 Haut-Brion is a blend of 56% Cabernet Sauvignon, 39% Merlot, and 5% Cabernet Franc. Deep garnet-brick in color, the nose explodes with heart-thumping floral and fragrant earth notes over a core of Morello cherries, black raspberries, and creme de cassis. It is medium to full-bodied, with super-firm, ripe tannins and a lively backbone lending a rock-solid structure to the bright, muscular fruit. The palate absolutely shimmers with stunning mineral and floral notes, finishing with epic length. Tantalizingly good now, expect even greater things with 5-10 more years of bottle age. It will cellar to 2070 and, most likely, well beyond. Bought by an American banker / financier Clarence Dillon in 1935, it remains in the family today, with Prince Robert of Luxembourg now managing the 125-acre estate on the edge of Bordeaux city, in the town of Pessac. The soils include some very deep gravels and a good amount of clay. Clonal variation adds to the complexity of the site, with over 500 different clones. Jean-Phillip Delmas is the third generation in his family to oversee winemaking at this estate. The style is often more elegant, minerally, and refined than its flamboyant sibling La Mission Haut-Brion. Indeed, Haut-Brion can appear austere in its youth. - Lisa Perrotti-Brown

This is incredible on the nose, showing coffee cake, blackberry, floral, coffee bean and vanilla bean, with Chinese spices. A very complex, full-bodied red, with seamless, hyperpolished tannins that caress every millimeter of the palate. Lasts for minutes. So beautifully balanced, I'm left speechless. Is it even better than the 1989? Best after 2017. 9,080 cases made. — JS

Tasting this just after the Haut-Brion 1998 and it feels almost impossibly young, but as with every time I have tasted this wine, you just know that it has the balance, depth, structure and sense of joy that will carry it through the decades. Exceptional quality, plush and fragrant, incense, blackberry and pencil lead. Jean-Philippe Delmas estate director as of 2003, Jean-Philippe Masclef technical director, no outside consultant. 100% new oak. I have given this 100 points every other time I've tasted it recently, but this tiny one point downscore is simply to point out that it is still a baby when sat in a lineup of older Haut-Brions!

Leather, smoke, tobacco, cigar box and an array of red and black fruits create the complex nose that pops with little effort. The wine is silky, smooth, ripe, concentrated and opulent, displaying a youthful, pure essence of fruit. Read more at:https://www.thewinecellarinsider.com/search-wine-tasting-notes/?szSearch=2005+Haut+Brion

98+ The Château Haut-Brion 2005, which unlike the rest of the First Growth was tasted from magnum, has a more audacious and sensual bouquet compared to the La Mission Haut-Brion with copious black cherries, cooked meat, mint and wild heather scents. You could sit and nose this all day. The palate is medium-bodied with filigree tannins. The harmony will leave you breathless. It is underpinned by nigh perfect acidity and astounding weight. Yet it does not overwhelm and remains faithfully classic in style. It is difficult to fault this Haut Brion and do not be surprised if it one day ends up joining the ranks of the 1961, 1989 or 2000.

All mineral at first, this wine feels cloistered in a stone cellar, its profound depths of red fruit more an impression than an immediate sensual connection. That direct connection forms over the course of several days, as the brilliant energy of the wine grows increasingly apparent. It has the controlled power of a tho­roughbred, naked and beautiful. The choice between Haut-Brion and La Mission is difficult in this vintage; anyone investing in one should invest in the other. This may prove the grander of the two, but that will likely be a point of debate for 50 years or more.

A big, virile wine, dominated by dark and firm tannins. The structure comes from powerful black fruits, the wood only showing as dry edge to the tannins. It’s firm, obviously destined for long aging, with initial blackberry fruits powering through the density. A stupendous wine that will last many decades.

A big, virile wine, dominated by dark and firm tannins. The structure comes from powerful black fruits, the wood only showing as dry edge to the tannins. It's firm, obviously destined for long aging, with initial blackberry fruits powering through the density. A stupendous wine that will last many decades. ROGER VOSS

This classic from the heralded 2005 vintage is finally living up to its potential, with a forward, ripe plummy fruit and elements of wood smoke, gunflint and earth. The texture is still firm and tannic, but there is no astringency, and the somewhat monolithic character has faded. A nuanced, subtle sheen now gives the wine an elegance and harmony that it did not possess in the early years of its evolution. It is now evident that this is a wine for the ages. Merlot dominates the blend at 56% of the total.

(96+ points) The 2005 Haut-Brion has a more sophisticated and delineated bouquet than the 2005 La Mission Haut-Brion with layer upon layer of pure black fruit commingling with crushed stone, Montecristo cigar and light black olive scents. It becomes more floral as it opens in the glass. The palate is medium-bodied with a slightly powdery texture and a peppery, liquorice-tinged finish. That it feels more savoury compared to previous bottles is a sign of its evolution. This needs more time but is a fabulous First Growth, albeit one eclipsed by subsequent vintage where I feel that Jean-Philippe Delmas foraged more finesse and precision. Tasted at the château. -- Neal Martin

56% Merlot 39% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc. Dark black purple. So thick light almost folds into it. Cool blueberry aromas. Not much else at first. Opens to light oak chocolate and cherry. Smokey leather tobacco and tar on the palate. Heavy tannins pulling at my teeth. Dark blackberry and cassis flavors are muted somewhat by heavy new oak and green tannic overtones.