I had the privilege of tasting a barrel sample of the 2005 Mouton Rothschild when were visiting there in June of 2006. Despite its impressive showing as a young wine, I knew then that I would not be buying this wine by the bottle. The hype surrounding the 2005 vintage drove prices up quickly and even in this recession I would have difficulty finding a bottle of the 2005 Mouton Rothschild for under US$700.
Instead we stayed away from the top producers and their pricey real estate and have purchased quite reasonable 2005 Bordeaux wines for under $40. The Roanoke Fine Wine Society recently did a blind taste of eight bottles of 2005 Bordeaux wines from St. Emilion, Pessac-Leognan, and Medoc to see what these relatively bargain wines offered in the glass.
Some were in a funky stage but most were very drinkable now if you can endure the mouth-drying tannins. These are definitely food wines. We paired these wines with braised beef and potatoes and hard cheeses and we were richly rewarded. Some of the evening’s highlights included a 2005 Chateau Joanin Becot (St. Emilion), Rollan de By (Medoc), and a Chateau Larrivet Haut-Brion (Pessac-Leognan) all of which were rated 90 by Robert Parker and can be found for under US$40.
Of course, had we bought the 2005 Mouton Rothschild at release it would have been a very good investment but you can buy a case and a half of these less renowned Bordeaux wines for the $700 plus it would cost to buy one bottle of the Mouton today.
Which brings up the question: Are you a wine collector or a wine drinker?
