Chateau Montrose (375ML half-bottle) 2005

"The 2005 Montrose is an exceptionally tannic, broodingly backward offering displaying a dense ruby/purple color along with a provocative perfume of crushed rocks, flowers, cassis, black raspberries, and blueberries. It continues to add weight and richness, good traits considering the substantial, forbiddingly high tannin levels and zesty acidity. If you are over the age of fifty, this backward, powerful wine will probably be more enjoyable to your descendants. Anticipated maturity: 2020-2040+ "

95 Points

The Wine Advocate

"Black licorice and blackberry aromas, with hints of mineral, lead to a full-bodied palate. Very chewy, with loads of tannins, yet this follows through with beautifully ripe fruit, mineral and mint. Fascinating. Best after 2012. 25,555 cases made. "

94 Points

Wine Spectator

"Good bright ruby-red. Very ripe aromas of plum, flint and nutty oak. Large-scaled, rich and explosive, offering impressive volume and a sensation of power. The ripeness here verges on syrupy and this lush, round wine may well need a decade to lose some of its baby fat and assume its adult shape. The big, ripe tannins coat the teeth."

93 Points

International Wine Cellar

"This is so big it is blinding, a storm of mineral tannin and plum-skin extract. The volume is turned up high, and even as the tannic noise factor begins to diminish with days of air, the wine is still closed tight. The comportment of its power shows this to be a wine from a great terroir; the property, in fact, has some parallels to Latour, with its similarly shaped gravel promontory above the Gironde. Montrose consistently grows one of the staunchest, long-lived wines of the Médoc and though accommodations have been made in recent years to soften it, the tannic index in February 2006 read at 82, a force to reckon with over the decades to come."

93 Points

Wine & Spirits