Branaire Ducru 2005

[Musigny 151]

A few years ago, I had this at a press lunch, and thought it so good I sprung for a case. It remained unopened until we were looking for enough bottles to use for our local Zoom. Everybody gets the same wine, so it makes discussion a lot more coherent than if we each open a different bottle.

Decanted a couple of hours, I knew from the nose it was special as I was decanting. The hard tannins which some 2005s suffer from had smoothed, and the wine had aromatics of red and black fruit, cedar, harness leather, licorice and lavender. The finish was long and easy. This is an underrated property anyway, but in 2005, they produced a really gorgeous bottle of Bordeaux.95

[Comte Flaneur]

We should do that - choose a wine that many of us have or can access - and do a zoom; it woukd keep things coherent. I picked up some of this at auction not so long ago, and I stored it figuring it would need at least one Blanquito, but judging by Mark’s note it seems like it is open for business.

[Musigny 151]

Even locally, it is not an easy thing to organize. We have eight people in our Zoom, and only started recently to do four wines at a time to give us four weeks of tasting, and to minimize the hassle. I would suggest a readily available property such as Lynch Bages with a suggested vintage, but if you can’t find it, another vintage.

[jckba]

Nice note Mark and I share your enthusiasm for this wine in this vintage and fully agree that some 2005’s are more drinkable / enjoyable than others at this stage (Branaire or Poyferre as compared to Barton for instance). And I would certainly be down to participate in a group zoom should you decide on a wine I own or have access to locally.

[Musigny 151]

I think Jim will need to organize on a separate thread.

[Musigny 151]

I think Jim will need to organize on a separate thread.

[Blanquito]

Not had the 2005 Branaire, but I thought the 2016 was a highlight and a great QPR at the UGC tasting.

And for sure, this is a chronically underrated chateau which has been on a roll (at least) since the 2000 vintage. We could use more underrated chateau...

[JimHow]

Just getting caught up to this.
Time for another Zoom!

[dstgolf]

I had picked up a 6 pack on release and popped one two years back. Showed promise but tannins quite firm and wine closed not showing much. This was highly rated by Parker and others and I expected more. Looks like it has come into its own from your note and ready for another test run. Thanks for sharing.

[marcs]

You could really do worse than just buy Branaire Ducru every year. They are more elegant and classy than Sociando if less "robust" and are generally priced not too far off. They do a really good job combining a streamlined elegance and classical balance with a bit of hedonistic appeal. They have also really not changed their style too much over the years that I can tell.

I have three bottles of the 05 and five of the 2016. Bought a half case of the 2016 on Blanquito's rec and was very impressed by the first bottle which I had in 2019. Honestly I think I liked it at this stage a bit better than the 2016 Pichon Baron I tried, which was a much much bigger wine and less classically Bordeaux at this stage in its life. The Branaire Ducru was already showing subtlety and intrigue which is becoming harder to come by in new-style Bordeaux.

[AKR]

When we formally decide upon the Vintage Of The Century (VOTC) 80 years from now, 2005 will be a strong contender.

[marcs]

When we formally decide upon the Vintage Of The Century (VOTC) 80 years from now, 2005 will be a strong contender.

do we know that? I thought 2005 had if anything underperformed a bit compared to initial expectations, on the left bank because it is taking a long time to come around, on the right bank because a number of wines were overextracted/alcoholic.

[Blanquito]

I thought 2005 had if anything underperformed a bit compared to initial expectations, on the left bank because it is taking a long time to come around, on the right bank because a number of wines were overextracted/alcoholic.

For sure, Right Bank 2005 had so many train-wrecks.

And I agree that the early returns even on the Left Bank have been mixed, BUT we were saying the same thing about the 2000 vintage 5 years ago or so, and those have come on wonderfully since then.

[AKR]

When we formally decide upon the Vintage Of The Century (VOTC) 80 years from now, 2005 will be a strong contender.

do we know that? I thought 2005 had if anything underperformed a bit compared to initial expectations, on the left bank because it is taking a long time to come around, on the right bank because a number of wines were overextracted/alcoholic.

Time will tell, mustn't be hasty at only 20% of the way through century.

[Tom In DC]

15 years seems like a very short time to have given up on a powerful vintage in Bordeaux.

[robert goulet]

If I was solely judging WOTC by the quality of the lower end wines,(ex.$15-30) for me 2005 has been the stand out over the last 15-20yrs....jmho

[dstgolf]

Ditto for the strong kudos for 2005 vintage. Many were showing awkward 2-3 years ago and now some are just exceeding expectations and I'm in no hurry to open these in the near future as they are just at the start of their rise to glory and a long way from peak 5 yrs plus for what I have sampled over the last year. Happy to have gone deep in 05.

[Antoine]

I have liked all my 2005.... including the Branaire Ducru (bought a real case)