2005 Barde Haut: Should never have been blanquitoed.

[JimHow]

I have said before that Barde Haut should be consumed in its infancy.
it just doesn't get better with age.
A few years ago I remarked about the beautiful chocolate sexiness of this 2005.
Alas, it has just not gotten better. It is still nice, but not better.
The 2005 Barde Haut confirms what I have been saying about this property:
Drink them young, upon release.
There is just not much complexity to be developed with age.
Enjoy it young, don't over-analyze the situation.
Rating: 89 points.

[DavidG]

I usually bust your chops about drinking them too young, Jim, but I agree with you on Barde Haut. A great QPR that I’ve enjoyed from release to 10 years.

[stefan]

The few older Barde Haut I have drunk were not impressive.

[Blanquito]

I’ve kinda gone off Barde Haut young, middling or old.

[AKR]

The few older Barde Haut I have drunk were not impressive.

Do you mean really old ones? or ones from a different era?

Personally I have been surprised with how rich & fruity the 98 and 99 have continued to be.

So many of their peers have faded, but those have held fast

[dstgolf]

Personally I've never found any love in Barde Haut. Agree with most of the comments here but surprised with some that love traditional Bordeaux have enjoyed this early, mid or late in its life. The wine always seemed disjointed with too much oak,fruit extraction and modern style that never seemed to turn my crank.

[jckba]

Personally I've never found any love in Barde Haut. Agree with most of the comments here but surprised with some that love traditional Bordeaux have enjoyed this early, mid or late in its life. The wine always seemed disjointed with too much oak,fruit extraction and modern style that never seemed to turn my crank.

I would tend to fully agree with Danny on this one and am still puzzled at the 2012 finding its way into the BWE WOTY voting let alone winning.

[dstgolf]

JCKBA,

Last memory of the 2012 was sitting in Stefan's hotel room in San Fran with Jim pouring up the proud WOTY. I thought that it was a joke but certainly there were people in the room that seemed to like this wine....not for me! To each his own and I'm certainly not going to criticize someone for enjoying a wine that I don't. We all have our personal tastes and there are no rights and wrongs but I just don't find redeeming qualities in Barde Haut. Yes there have been a few kookoo WOTY choices and this ranks up there with 2005 Burgundy as some protest vote on a Bordeaux wine site??!! But yes there is a benevolent dictator that shows most of the time a discerning palate however the odd brain fart is the norm for most.

[jckba]

I don’t disagree with any of that but do think that there are plenty of other selections that could have graced the first Right Bank WOTY spot, that’s all.

[JimHow]

I am a kind and benevolent dictator.

[Nicklasss]

Wine tasting is a fun hobby, and we all have the right to agree or disagree.

For the 2005 Barde Haut, I can't comment, never had it. For the 2012, i agree the WOTY title can be controversial. But at the same time, if you had some 2012 red Bordeaux, from different aoc, i understand how it can make it way throught. Yes it is modern, concentrated fruit, some good oak in there, but still packed with black fruit merlot, spices and sligthly lush mouth. The 2012 Beauséjour-Duffau is a better wine, but 3 or 4 times more expensive. The 2012 Barde Haut, when I had it in SF, is better than the 2012 GPL or 2012 Cantemerle I had this week.

I was not moved by the 2000 Pichon Lalande in Washington in June. I guess everyone else in attendance liked it. I never liked that much the expansive/expensive dry Pessac Léognan white. When young, I did not liked the 1998 Smith Haut Laffite, but liked it at age 15.

The red Bordeaux that are unanimously acclaimed aren't legion. This is simply part of the game, like it or not.

Nic

[AKR]

I quite liked the 98 red Graves, especially as time went on. Loved the 98 SHL.

When they were released I had not realized how good they were and bought more of the right banks, and then compounding that, I drank them up much faster than I should have.

Other than 2012 I don't think I've drunk B-H in recent releases. I've tried some of the Garcin's other wines (the South American ones) and they are pretty good too, in the same mold as her French wines.