Bordeaux Wine Enthusiasts

Yesterday I cracked my case of 2005 La Conseillante and took a bottle to Divine for its monthly dinner. My duck was overcooked and the rest of the meal so-so, but the Conseillante was fabulous. The nose had licorice, truffles, and Asian spices steeped in juice of blackberries and blueberries, and the taste was consistent with the bouquet. The wine is still youthful even though I had stored it at 62-64F since release. Likely in time it will surpass the great 1989 and 1990 La Conseillante. 95+

Likely in time it will surpass the great 1989 and 1990 La Conseillante.

Wow that’s a bold statement!

I remember those 89 and 90 Conseillantes that Rob Dayton brought to your house, they were both spectacular.

I'm embarrassed to say I purchased my 1st Conseillante only recently...picked up an '01

Indeed they were, Jim.

I just check the current price of 2005 La Conseillante: $407 average, $325 low on WineSearcherPro. The market appreciates its quality.

2005 seems to be such a lovely vintage for consumption today.

I missed the boat on 2005 Right Bankers...

High praise indeed! I bought a fair number of 2005 right bankers but somehow didn’t get any Conseillante. It’s one of my faves, what was I thinking?

I’m a huge Conseillante fan and I think 2005 is the best Conseillante ever (although I haven’t tasted 2016 and after). Unfortunately though I have only two bottles of it and prices are getting prohibitively expensive. I am long on 2000, 2001, 2009, 2010, and 2014 instead…

Blanquito wrote: ↑Sat Apr 15, 2023 11:05 pm I missed the boat on 2005 Right Bankers...

Not sure you missed much outside of Conseillante…

Well I have to plug the VCC 2005. One of the three wines of the vintage (Ausone and Latour). This was the wine that began my love affair with the estate.

But it is taking its time. I bought a case of half bottles and now have had half a dozen. Still a wine more about its future than its present, although everything in my most recent bottle was there and had a forever finish. Still needs to “cohede”

No ‘05 Conseillante here either but do have an un broached case of the Evangile so your note does make me wonder if it is time to do the same and crack it open.

05s RB I wish I’d bought Trotanpy, VCC, Figeac, Canon, Magdelaine, Conseillante, l’Evangile, maybe Angelus.

I only bought one 2005 RB - Ch. Bellevue. Opened in 2017, I thought it was outstanding.

05 Conseillante was the only 05 right bank wine of which I bought a case. At the time it was a gamble whether I would live long enough to try a bottle. Now I wish I had bought many others.

Thanks stefan for your note. I acquired a case of this a few years ago. Unlike yours it has been store at 52-54F and the bottle I tried a while ago was quite tough going and required two Blanquitos. There is a lot to be said for storing wines in a warm cellar.

I have invested heavily in La Conseillante over the years and have cases or six packs of 05, 06, 08, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17 and 19.

>>
There is a lot to be said for storing wines in a warm cellar.
>>
Maybe not at your age, Ian, but certainly at mine. However, I do recommend storing at least one bottle from a case in a warmer spot in order to get an earlier sense of how the wine will be at maturity. I have done that for a long time, and have occasionally taken the trouble to break a case in half and store the half cases at different temperatures.

When a wine I have in warmer storage reaches its "plateau of maturity", I move the remaining bottles to colder storage unless I anticipate drinking them all in a year or two. I think that I will blanquito six of the 05 La Conseillante in my cold storage and keep the remaining five in the warmer location.

In an ideal cellar world, I’d store my fully mature wines (‘88 and older, some ‘89s & ‘90s) at 50F, the 95-05s at 55F, and the younger stuff at 60F.

Good idea, Patrick. When we get our new wine set-up in Oregon running, I might try putting all of my pre-1990 wine (not that I have much of it any more) into one wine fridge and set the temperature at 50F instead of 55F.